Who Could Oregon Pursue as Their Next Offensive Line Coach?
In this story:
Just after signing the Pac-12's top recruiting class last week, it's right back to work for Dan Lanning.
After Adrian Klemm accepted a job with the New England Patriots, Lanning now needs to find a new coach to lead his offensive line. We know that Lanning isn't a coach that will rush hires.
He'll do his homework, vet prospective candidates and bring them in for interviews. With that process surely underway, we're taking a look at some possible names that Oregon could pursue to become the next offensive line coach.
A'lique Terry-Assistant DL Coach Minnesota Vikings
Terry is a name that should look familiar for Duck fans. Not only did he serve on the Oregon coaching staff as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line in 2019 and 2020, but Terry was supposed to join Lanning's staff in December of 2021, but the Vikings added him to their staff as assistant coach working with the defensive line.
Terry has coached his own offensive line before in his one season at Hawaii in 2021. He has familiarity with Oregon and obviously Dan Lanning since he was going to be on the staff when Lanning was initially putting pieces together.
Matt Luke-Retired/Former OL Coach Georgia Bulldogs
This is a very interesting name to monitor in the coaching search for Lanning. Luke retired after helping lead the Georgia Bulldogs to a national championship in the 2021 season. He cited that his reason for retiring was wanting to spend more time with his family.
Maybe this is a long shot seeing that Lanning would need to get him to come out of retirement, but he's certainly worth a phone call. Maybe that fire's still there and he wants to continue competing.
The two have experience coaching on the same staff at Georgia and Luke has an added bonus of brining head coaching experience from his time at Ole Miss from 2017 to 2019.
READ MORE: Signee Spotlight All-American DL Johnny Bowens III
Jim Michalczik- OL Coach Oregon State
This is one of the more interesting names out west. Michalczik has been at Oregon State since 2018 and has had a front row seat to Jonathan Smith's turnaround.
The Beavers have consistently had one of the better offensive lines in the Pac-12 and were even finalists for th Joe Moore Award in 2021. Pulling him away from Corvallis could be tough. Like Klemm he has strong West Coast ties and brings NFL experience from his time coaching the Raiders from 2009 to 2010.
Matt Mattox-OL Coach Purdue
Mattox was recently hired by new Purdue head coach Ryan Walters following the 2022 season.
Mattox previously coached the offensive line and was co-offensive coordinator with Will Stein at UTSA. Maybe he's looking for another step up in coaching and would be open to reuniting with Stein at Oregon.
If he were to join Stein at Oregon he could do big things in his offense in year one and he wouldn't have to worry about being a part of a rebuild like he is in West Lafayette. He also brings more ties to the Lone Star State, which were pivotal in Oregon's recruiting efforts in 2023.
Stephen Hamby-OL Coach Texas Tech
Hamby is entering just his second season with the Red Raiders in 2023. However before he got to Lubbock he was coaching in Western Kentucky with Oregon running backs coach Carlos Locklyn.
I'd be curious to see how his philosophy fits in at Oregon coming from a run-heavy offense at Western Kentucky, to a now pass-heavy offense at Texas Tech. There's not a strong connection to Lanning, but Locklyn and his group have been difference makers since coming to Oregon, so Hamby could also be worth a call.
READ MORE: Signee Spotlight Five-star Oregon WR Jurrion Dickey
Join the Community
Follow Max on Twitter: @mtorressports
