There’s a theme that echoes through Dan Lanning’s program at Oregon in 2025: Double Down.
But for the defending regular season Big Ten champs and one of the nation’s top teams “Doubling Down” is not just about repeating as Champs or getting to the College Football Playoff, it’s about daily growth.
Dan Lanning is the latest conversation on THE PROCESS, a limited series within Y-Option, fueled by our founding sponsor, 76® - keeping you on the GO GO GO so you never miss a beat. In a detailed conversation with Rhett Lewis and myself, the Ducks head coach opened up about being exposed to the GOAT of Process, Nick Saban, and how that has impacted his life and the core DNA Traits of his program.
After a statement win on the road at Penn State two weeks ago, Lanning didn’t allow the emotions of an epic White Out win to linger. “Every one of our players has an improvement plan,” he told us. “One thing they must get better at.” And that goes for every unit, every coach, every staff member.
That kind of clarity doesn’t come from chasing results. It comes from the process that Lanning learned years ago at Alabama and Georgia which began with a simple phrase: evaluate everything. The good calls, the bad ones, the moments that worked out for the wrong reasons. As he put it, “Good process, bad result–that can happen. Bad process, good result–that can happen too.” Regardless of result, his knows he and his staff still have to fix it.
And then he took it further and shared something with Rhett and I that we have never heard from a football coach.
He has his players self-reflect each week. Not just verbally, but he has them write it down. And not just what worked, but what didn’t and how they’ll respond. Coach Lanning reads each players essay and their words give him a window into their self-awareness, and that’s where real growth starts.
When Coach Lanning spoke about self-awareness for his players, it landed. Because that word sits at the center of his life too. The man who once drove from Kansas City to Pittsburgh just to chase a coaching job now balances the same fire at Oregon with grounded perspective. His wife’s battle with cancer reshaped how he sees the world. “There is no balance in this profession,” he admitted. But when he gets a moment to have dinner with his wife or watch his son’s football game–Coach Lanning is all in.
In a sport where everyone’s watching the scoreboard, Dan Lanning is focused on the present while building a culture that values honesty over hype, process over panic, and connection over control.
And if you walk into his locker room, he says, you’ll see that the rest of the world could learn from the young men in it.
That’s The Process. That’s Growth. And it’s working in Eugene.
For past episodes of THE PROCESS be sure to check out Peyton Manning, Chris Fowler and Mark Jackson as their process as professionals, husbands and fathers may impact your life.
Much love and stay steady
Yogi
