WATCH: Dan Lanning Talks Offensive Coordinator Search, Holiday Bowl
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Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning is back and ready to get going again in the following weeks to prepare for the Holiday Bowl against the North Carolina Tarheels on Dec. 28.
On Monday Oregon's head coach met with reporters in Eugene to get some important questions answered before they prepare to face the Tarheels after the conclusion of the regular season.
Opening statement: "First off, would like to start by giving coach Ulmer and the volleyball team a shoutout for their success and making it to the Sweet 16. Obviously, for our guys here, extremely excited for our opportunity to go play in the Holiday Bowl against a really great opponent in North Carolina. I think that's one of the best bowls out there. Certainly have enjoyed getting the opportunity to go out there with this team one more time, this 2022 team one more time and compete. We're excited. Our guys have kind of got an opportunity here to charge our batteries and really get healthy. That's what a lot of bowl prep's at and also we're finishing up academically right now in the classroom, want to do a good job there of finishing there the right way."
READ MORE: Bo Nix expected to play in Holiday Bowl
Question: Dan, what was your reaction when you saw the postgame altercation with DJ Johnson? And what is the outcome of that situation? What's his status for this bowl game with the program?
Lanning: "First is just gather information. We don't want to be a program that just operates based off of what we don't have and taking a deeper dive into that situation doing some investigating on our end and really on the other side through a few avenues. You realize that DJ was in a moment there that he certainly wished he would have acted different, but something was said it was pretty extreme to him--that some people might act in a similar fashion. Certainly not condoning the behavior. I know DJ wishes he could have that moment back, it was an intense situation. Those things at happen at times and I know that he would handle it different given the opportunity. Right now he's a guy that has the opportunity to compete and move on in the NFL draft and has put himself in the position to do that. I think he's gonna take a chance to go to the Senior Bowl, but I don't want to speak for DJ too much. But I think right now he's in preparation for the draft."
Question: What's the status of the offensive coordinator search and what are characteristics that are attractive for filling this position?
Lanning: "It's going really well. I'd love to sit here and say I can tell you an announcement right now. I'm not ready to be in that position, but we are getting close. The interest in this job is obviously extreme and you get an opportunity to be thorough and diligent as you go through that process and looking for opportunities to enhance your program. I'll also tell you that we have some phenomenal coaches here on our staff that are certainly qualified to be the offensive coordinator here and that's something that we'll definitely explore every opportunity here as we move forward and what that'll look like. Our offensive staff will prep us as we move into the bowl game and be ready to take on the bowl game and compete with some of that same terminology and things that we've attacked this season."
REPORT: Oregon set to hire UTSA's Will Stein as offensive coordinator
Question: "What is Bo's Status at this point? Is it looking like he's gonna play in the bowl game?"
Lanning: "Yeah, Bo's a competitor he wants to get out there and play in this game for sure."
Question: "Christian Gonzalez declared for the NFL Draft today. You've coached a lot of NFL players in your in your career. I'm just curious what you've seen from him from this year from coaching him and what you project from him at the next level?"
Lanning: "So impressed with Christian. I think Christian is experiencing now what so many of us saw in him when he first got here and what he has. He's a product of a great family, a product of a coach that did a really good job there with Coach Martin and our defensive staff, but really also a product of just a great young man. Christian has been elite in everything that he's done for our program. He's worked really hard to earn everything that he's got and I'm really proud of him. And I know that he wants to be out there and competing with his brothers, but sometimes those decisions have to be left to family members and other people that are looking out for his interest. Christian's done a ton for our program. We're certainly grateful for his contribution."
Question: "How do you envision tomorrow being with the transfer portal?"
Lanning: "The first thing I would say is I wonder if you could go back however many months this first started--if this is what we wanted? Is this really what we wanted college football to be? I don't know if that's the reality. Yeah, what's tomorrow gonna look like? I don't know that any of us really truly know and you want to be prepared for it as a coach. We prepare for a lot of different scenarios. At surface level, the intent, what the portal was intended to do was really a great opportunity for student athletes. And now where it's headed, I don't know if that's the case. And I don't know if that's great for college football. We're going to take advantage of every resource that we have to enhance our program and make us better and it certainly helped us this past year. We're going to look for opportunities to help enhance us moving forward."
READ MORE: Oregon Ducks transfer portal tracker
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