A bitterly cold 30-degree weather hit Eugene, Oregon, last fall. The Oregon Ducks football team ran around on the frozen turf at the Hatfield-Dowling Center. Cleats creaked, some players more careful than others about the ice. Distracted, the team's energy was clearly sapped by the cold.
Oregon football coach Dan Lanning did something nobody expected: He took off his warm Nike sweatshirt and began calling plays shirtless in the frigid air.
The players looked at each other with bated breath, realizing they were no ordinary coach. Lanning's actions energized the team, and the practice was once again up to his standards. The players still talk about that day.
Oregon linebacker Bryce Bettcher smiled as he described Running as “psycho in his own way.”
“Lanning is a great coach and he cares about his players,” Bettcher told Oregon SI's Bri Amaranth. “He has a – I don't want to say psycho, but he has a psychotic side to him, and that's what makes him so much fun to be around.”
“When he coaches, he always has that look on his face that he's ready to try anything,” Bettcher said.
The onus was on Lanning, who earned the respect of his team through his grit.
At age 24, Lanning drove through the night from Missouri to Pittsburgh in search of his first D1 college football coaching job. He changed into a suit at a gas station as the sun rose and received an email that would land him a job with the Pittsburgh Panthers. There, Lanning's ambition and tenacity would shape the rest of his coaching career.
Duck's players may not know how hard he worked to get the keys to Oregon's football program, but they enjoy the competitive spirit of running.
“Just knowing that a coach is willing to not only coach you, but to put on the pads and play with you as well, is motivating,” Bettcher told Amaranth. “When a coach wants to put the pads on and play with you, it makes you want to play for him. That's what I respect about him.”
University of Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson echoed Bottcher's sentiments about the pursuit of running greatness.
“It's very competitive,” Johnson told Amaranth. “It's so intense you wonder who you're playing in the national championship game.”
As one of the best young coaches in college football and a powerhouse of defensive talent, Lanning's focus isn't just on competition — his teams' DNA is built around accountability and toughness.
This will be Lanning's first season with Oregon in the Big Ten Conference. With Oregon facing teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, Lanning has assembled an enviable roster with the best transfer talent in the conference.
But more importantly, Lanning has instilled a work ethic into the Oregon football program that players now follow by example in their own “psycho” ways.
