Oregon Ducks' Dan Lanning Hires Ross Douglas, Former Bill Belichick Wide Receivers Coach

After helping lead Syracuse Orange to the No. 1 passing offense, wide receivers coach Ross Douglas has accepted the Oregon Ducks wide receivers coach job. Douglas, a former Bill Belichick assistant with the New England Patriots, played at Michigan and Rutgers. Now, Douglas will work under Oregon coach Dan Lanning.

Jan 1, 2025; Pasadena, CA, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning reacts after the loss against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2025 Rose Bowl college football quarterfinal game at Rose Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Oregon Ducks and coach Dan Lanning have hired a wide receivers coach. According to multiple reports, Ross Douglas, who most recently coached at Syracuse under Fran Brown, will be Oregon's newest assistant coach.

Douglas, just 30 years old, is one of the foremost up-and-comers in the coaching world. He helped lead the Orange to the No. 1 passing offense in the country while at Syracuse. The next closest team was the Ole Miss Rebels, who averaged 20 fewer yards per game.

Douglas's college career started as a player. He was a former three-star recruit that signed with the University of Michigan. He started 18 games and played multiple positions before eventually transferring to Rutgers and settling in at defensive back for the Scarlet Knights. He played in 22 games at Rutgers, starting 13 of those contests. After his collegiate career as a player, Douglas had a brief stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers after going undrafted in 2018.

Oregon is expected to hire Syracuse’s Ross Douglas as its new wide receivers coach, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports.

Rising star coach who helped Syracuse rank No. 1 nationally in passing offense in 2024. Previously was a wide receivers coach with the New England Patriots.… pic.twitter.com/JYz7C8ZDeT

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 16, 2025

Douglas then started as a graduate assistant at Rutgers where he spent three seasons before getting the call to the NFL to join Bill Belichick and the six-time Super Bowl champions, New England Patriots. He spent one season as a quality control coach before being promoted to assistant wide receivers coach, then again to the next season to wide receivers coach. After Belichick was replaced, Douglas then moved on to Syracuse.

“Ross is one of the young bright minds in football,” Syracuse coach Fran Brown said. “He’ll be a great head coach one day. I’m happy we got him, of the people we looked at, he was the best fit. He has it all. He understands and knows football. He’s worked with arguably the best coach in football and coach Belichick said nothing but great things about him. To be able to get someone to our staff from Bill Belichick’s staff alone is something I’m excited about.”

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Beyond the field, Douglas is known as a great motivator and recruiter that should pair well with the Ducks’ staff. The Ducks’ staff is already young, but with the addition of Douglas, it gets a youthful presence with NFL experience from the greatest coach of all time. The wide receiver room is already talented, but being able to use the Belichick and NFL selling point in recruiting is always a positive and should be helpful in the long run. 

Setting the standard at the @ShrineBowl.

Best of Patriots coaches Ross Douglas and Mike Pellegrino mic’d up in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/yDwXipwJev

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 2, 2023

“Dan (Lanning) is the best motivator I’ve ever been around,” offensive coordinator Will Stein said of Lanning. “It’s all him. He might hit us with a theme or two. But that’s what they pay him the big bucks to do, is to get our team motivated and he’s as good as anyone I’ve ever been around. His messaging is very clear and precise.”

Lanning continues to reel in the ideal fits to pair with his abilities as a coach. While he has been impressive with what he’s been able to lead the Ducks to on the field, Lanning's ability to keep the Ducks together off of it, and add the right pieces to keep progressing, has been equally impressive. 

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