ATLANTA -- Dan Lanning spent hours in Georgia football staff meetings and on the UGA practice fields hearing Kirby Smart bark out orders while building championship teams.
So Lanning, on the verge of the biggest game of his young head coaching career, heaped praise and thanks in the direction of the head coach he calls his “mentor.”
The popular storyline is how many of this year’s College Football Playoff coaches came off the Nick Saban coaching tree, Lanning included as he spent the 2015 season as a GA at Alabama.
But Lanning made it clear at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl coaches’ press conference at the College Football Hall of Fame on Thursday how much of his program was built off lessons learned from Smart at Georgia.
“I couldn’t put into words the lessons I learned from coach Smart,” Lanning said while sharing the stage with Indiana coach Curt Cignetti the day before the Ducks and Hoosiers were set to clash in their CFP semifinal at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“He’s an unbelievable coach, unbelievable mentor, a guy I still talk to this day, (as) we bounce ideas off each other.”
The value of those conversations is immeasurable when one considers Georgia and Oregon are two of the three winningest programs in college football since Lanning took over the Ducks program before the 2022 season.
Before that, Lanning’s role in Smart’s success at Georgia has been well-documented.
Smart hired Lanning away from Memphis to coach outside linebackers in 2018 before promoting him to defensive coordinator (2019 through 2021) when former DC Mel Tucker left to take the Colorado head coaching job.
Lanning helped recruit and build a legendary UGA defense that ultimately produced five first-round NFL defensive line picks after allowing only 6.9 points per game during the 2021 regular season — the fewest since the bowl coalition era began in 1992.
“I learned so many lessons from Coach Smart on how to run a program,” said the 39-year-old Lanning, who has become one of the most highly regarded and sought-after coaches in college football. “Being genuinely who you are — I think he coaches with the same passion and energy consistently, every day.
“He runs the entire organization to a T. He’s incredibly intelligent, so I try to take a lot of lessons from coach Smart.”
Smart and Georgia welcomed Lanning into the head coaching ranks in 2022 with a 49-3 Bulldogs’ win over the Ducks in both teams’ season-opening game.
Former UGA offensive coordinator Todd Monken said it was one of his easiest preps, as Lanning’s Oregon defense was remarkably — and perhaps, not surprisingly — similar to the Georgia defense Monken faced each day in UGA practices.
Much has changed for Lanning and the Ducks since then, from a scheme and talent standpoint as they have been among the most successful programs utilizing the new NIL and transfer portal rules.
Indeed, Lanning said “adaptability” was one of the key lessons he learned from Smart.
“Obviously, he’s done a lot of things right — you don’t have the success (Smart) has had without doing that,” Lanning said. He’s been a guy that’s always been willing to adapt, grateful for my time with him. (It) certainly prepared me for moments like this.”
Smart said he promoted Lanning to UGA’s defensive coordinator position because “he’s got fresh ideas … that are outside of our box.”
It was quite a compliment then and now, considering Smart’s rich background as a defensive coordinator at Alabama who had won four national titles with the Crimson Tide.
It’s fair to say Lanning will need to apply a degree of creativity to stop No. 1-ranked Indiana when his Ducks take the field against the Hoosiers for their showdown with a spot in the CFP championship game on the line.
The Hoosiers bring a 14-0 record into the contest and are coming off an impressive 38-3 victory over Alabama in the CFP Rose Bowl quarterfinal Jan. 1.
The Ducks (13-1) lost a 30-20 decision to Indiana on Oct. 11 in Eugene, Oregon.
Lanning knows the first key to success will be the Ducks not beating themselves.
“I think it always starts with the ball, the team that’s able to take care of the ball, (and) last time we played, we didn’t,” Lanning said, referencing the loss to the Hoosiers earlier this season. “We were able to create a takeaway as well, but we ended up having two (turnovers). I think that’s a big piece of this.
“And special teams in big games always makes a big impact, so I think we have to play well on special teams.”
Ultimately, Lanning indicated — in much the same fashion Smart has over the years — the game will come down to the line of scrimmage.
“You have two teams that want to be able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage,” Lanning said. “The team that can win the line of scrimmage, that’s a big, big piece of this game.
“And once the line of scrimmage is determined, it’s going to be about who can win one-on-ones outside with technique.”
The Hoosiers are a 3.5-point favorite to beat the Ducks in Friday night’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl playoff game, which will see its winner advance to the CFP championship game to face Miami, a 31-27 winner over Ole Miss in Thursday’s CFP Fiesta Bowl semifinal.
Winningest Power Four programs since 2022
(Lanning’s first season at Oregon)
