dpOregon coach Dan Lanning is on the verge of doing something faster than any previous Ducks coach.
Lanning’s next victory will be his 50th and will come in fewer than five full seasons for the coach who took over Oregon’s program in 2022.
That milestone could come on Saturday when Lanning (49-8) and the Ducks (1-0) play at Oklahoma State at 9 a.m.
When asked to compare himself now to his first game at Oregon, Lanning said: “Light-years of changes. I don’t think I could pick one thing. But you’re drinking out of a fire hose at first.”
Lanning’s tenure began with what remains the most lopsided loss of his career. The Ducks faced defending national champion Georgia in Atlanta. Lanning had been the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator for three seasons.
Georgia hammered the Ducks 49-3, but Oregon recovered to go 10-3 that season and hasn’t lost more than two games in a season since, while winning the 2024 Big Ten championship and reaching the College Football Playoff twice.
“Obviously, the first game result was pretty poor,” Lanning said. “So, we’re a little bit different team since then, for sure. Certainly, I’m a lot different.”
If Lanning’s 50th victory doesn’t come Saturday, it will almost assuredly come the following Friday night at home against FCS Portland State.
Barring two huge upsets, Lanning’s 50th victory would come in his 58th or 59th game.
That’s far fewer games than the only three Oregon coaches to reach 50 victories.
The first was Len Casanova, who went 82-73-8 from 1951-1966.
His 50th victory, against 46 losses, came in the final win of 1960, his 10th season. The Ducks defeated West Virginia, 20-6, on their way to finishing the season 7-3-1.
Rich Brooks became the next Oregon coach to reach 50 victories, while going 91-109-4 from 1977 to 1994.
He earned his 50th victory in 1988, his 12th season, when Oregon went 6-6. Brooks entered the season with 46 wins. The 50th came on Oct. 1, 1988, when the Ducks won 34-13 at San Diego State to start the season 4-0.
At that point, he was 50-71. Oregon finished that season 6-6.
Brooks left for the NFL following the 1994 season. Taking over as head coach was Brooks’ offensive coordinator, Mike Bellotti, who went on to become the program’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 116-55 from 1995 through 2008.
His 50th victory came during the first game of his seventh season in 2001, when Oregon won 31-28 over Wisconsin on Sept. 1 at Autzen Stadium.
Bellotti, 50-22 at that point, led the Ducks to an 11-1 record and a No. 2 ranking at the end of the season.
Bellotti’s successor, his offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, went 46-7 in four seasons from 2009 to 2012. Kelly’s offensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich, took over in 2013 and went 37-16 through 2016.
After Willie Taggart coached the 2017 season before leaving for Florida State, Mario Cristobal took over and put together a 35-13 record from 2018 through 2021.
Lanning replaced Cristobal in 2022.
