The critical coaching skill Dan Lanning needs to be great

What worked?

What didn't?

How do we need to change and grow in order to achieve 100% of our potential?

How can I help these guys become the best versions of themselves?

It's the ability to self-evaluate and act from a big-picture vision that separates mediocre coaches from the progrum-builders.

After ten wins in year one, Dan Lanning is well on his way to being that kind of coach. 

When questioned by reporters after a game about a critical play that failed miserably, Lanning's predecessor at Oregon would invariably say, "That's our identity. It's in our DNA."

That's a stubborn and ineffective way for a leader to think. A football team, or any organization really, has to strive to be fluid, respond to situations and rise in the moment. Little about greatness is encoded at birth. Courage is grace under pressure, executing sound decisions in difficult circumstances. It doesn't fall back on pat answers and predictable thinking.

A great coach has to be able to recognize a crisis, even if it means scrapping everything and starting over. Oregon's great run of championships and national relevance started with a come-to-Jesus meeting at Camp Harlow after a devastating loss to BYU in 2006. Former Oregonian reporter Andrew Greif describes it:

Former coach Mike Bellotti still refers to it less as a team meeting and more "a team intervention."

"I've been part of millions of team-bonding exercises," said UO offensive line coach Steve Greatwood, who was there that evening, "but nothing that really cut to the core like this one."

Some Ducks fans have likely heard of that cathartic retreat, but everyone knows what followed: The "Win The Day" mantra, coined by Chip Kelly; hopes of a national championship the following season in 2007; seven consecutive 10-win seasons; two appearances in national title games; one Heisman Trophy.

That run might have seemed unfathomable when Oregon coaches, support staffers and players, some still irked from their unfocused and unmotivated bowl loss, arrived by bus at north Eugene's Camp Harlow on a winter evening.

"That day," said former UO offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, who was entering his junior season, "changed the program."

The Ducks don't need anything that drastic in 2023. Lanning and his team are coming off a brilliantly-managed bowl win over North Carolina, a game in which they came from behind, hung together and played the most focused fourth quarter of the season.

But there are challenges to be addressed, starting with those key questions at the start of the page. It's not anything that has to be discussed at the podium with ten microphones and a dozen cell phone recorders under your chin, but Coach and his staff have to make time to look critically at all of last season, developing a concrete plan for the problems exposed in 2022.

These include:

1. Poor performance and big breakdowns in special teams

Oregon's special teams used to be special. The Osborn/Bellotti years were full of game-breaking big plays, dramatic punt returns, kickoff returns slammed down at the ten. Young players "made their bones" on the special teams units. Guys like Keith Lewis, Charles Nelson and Brady Breeze would volunteer for every one of them. There was great pride in execution, in knowing what you were doing.

2. Woeful third down defense (123rd in the country)

Underneath pass coverage in particular was a disaster, something the Ducks have begun to address by overhauling the linebacker corps.  Jeffrey Bassa, Jamal Hill, Jestin Jacobs and Connor Soelle give the team more mobility in the middle, a chance to shut down those hooks, slants and crossing routes that resulted in easy first downs.

3. Knowing when to rely on analytics and when to trust your gut, particularly in a tense, close game against a strong opponent. 

Football is a game of emotion and momentum. The two rivalry games were lost with big decisions that didn't pan out, failed plays on fourth down or getting no points after long drives that reached the Red Zone.

Lanning probably has his own list, far more detailed and purposeful than this sketch. He's too driven and competitive to repeat the same behaviors and expect things to change. The great ones get results, and they're hardest on themselves.

The best running back room in the PAC-12

Find someone to manage your 401-K the way Carlos Locklyn picks running backs.

When Dan Lanning hired him in January of last year, Oregon had four four-star backs on the depth chart, Trey Benson, Sean Dollars, Seven McGee and Byron Cardwell.

Despite this, the self-described "Walk-On Coach" immediately went to work in the film room and on the phones. He wanted even more competition in spring practice. He wanted a rotation of ball carriers who were perfect for his style.

From the hundred backs in the transfer portal, Locklyn plucked Bucky Irving from Minnesota and Noah Whittington from his previous coaching stop at Western Kentucky.

Highest graded returning RBs in the Pac-12♨️ pic.twitter.com/cvOkVEUfPv

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 28, 

Locklyn found a tandem with the instincts and acceleration to explode through the hole when a play worked, the vision, creativity and determination to jump cut, spin or drive through tacklers when the designed play was dead at the line of scrimmage.

Together they rushed for 1837 yards on 295 carries, ten TDs in 2022 (Irving 1,058, Whittington 779.)  The two also combined for 53 catches and 468 yards, 4 TDs in the passing game.

Working behind a veteran offensive line, Irving averaged 6.78 yards a carry, Whittington 5.6. They churned out 59 chunk runs of ten yards or more, 11 of 20 yards or more.

 Freshman Jordan James chipped in another 189 yards and five TDs on the ground, used mainly in short yardage and at the goal line. At 5-10, 210 James proved invaluable in the role, relying on a quick burst and straight-ahead toughness.

Watch how often Irving makes the first man miss, something Locklyn stresses to all his running backs. He catches the ball easily and naturally while exploding into the open field. At 5-10, 194 he has terrific  strength and balance, finishing his runs with authority.

Note also how he keeps the ball high and tight to his chest, particularly in traffic.

All of this reflects Bucky's exceptional talent, but it's clear also that Coach Locklyn is a skilled evaluator and teacher as well as a terrific recruiter.

In the 2023 class Locklyn added Dante Dowdell and Jayden Limar, so there's a strong chance this rebirth will continue. Dowdell, 6-1, 210, stood out in the spring game, dragging tacklers and shedding them on his way to 7 carries for 36 yards, tops among running backs albeit in a small sample size.

The freshman from Picayune, Mississippi has a bright future, with power that recalls Royce Freeman or Jonathan Stewart. His carries are likely to be limited as a first-year player, however, with three proven backs ahead of him.

In Year One Locklyn did a great job of managing the load among the RBs while creating a sense of family in the position room, finding roles for each. Even with Benson, Dollars, McGee and Cardwell transferring out, the Ducks still have the best stable in the conference, one that promises to provide excellent balance for Bo Nix's offense. 

 The Ducks lost just three fumbles all year as a team. The first came on that disastrous Swinging Gate Shift on fourth down inside the five versus Washington, another by the now-departed Donte' Thornton struggling for yardage after a catch. 

[I can't remember the third one, but I don't believe the running back room had a single turnover all year.] Utterly remarkable for a squad that produced 2805 yards on 508 carries, the third-best rushing offense in the PAC-12.

The secret sauce in the ground attack was the threat of quarterback Bo Nix on the keeper. Before a late-season injury in the fourth quarter versus Washington the Auburn transfer was devastating when pulling the ball down, rushing for 510 yards on 89 carries (5.73 YPC). His 14 rushing touchdowns were tops nationally among quarterbacks.

It's encouraging that one of the first things Locklyn did in coming to Oregon was reach out to Gary Campbell and acknowledge the tremendous running back tradition at UO, working to establish a connection to LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, J-Stew, Freeman and the other backs who built it.

In the Campbell/Greatwood years, Oregon had thousand-yard rushers 15 out of 16 seasons over a remarkable run that ended in 2016. The Ducks led the conference in rushing for ten straight years.

It's great to know this staff appreciates that tradition and has worked to build on it. Last season's offense was explosive and fun to watch. After the dull, predictable football that characterized the previous regime, the Nix/Irving/Franklin/Ferguson show was more like the Quack Attack that won six conference championships and three Rose Bowls in the PAC-12 era.

Dan Lanning's greatest strength as a head coach is his knack for hiring the right people. He and Locklyn worked together under Mike Norvell at Memphis in 2017. Coaching is first and foremost a collaborative and relationship-driven business, part of why Lanning puts so much emphasis on "Connection" as a team value.

 In Locklyn, Junior Adams and Demetrius Martin, he's made three home run hires. 2022 offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham boosted Oregon's offense by a full touchdown a game, parlaying that into the head coaching job at his alma mater, ASU. For 2023, Will Stein steps in.

Adrian Klemm did a superlative job with the offensive line before departing for the NFL and early indications are strong that A'lique Terry will build on that foundation. The Ducks killed it in the transfer portal on the o-line, adding George Silva from the JC ranks in addition to Ajani Cornelius (Rhode Island), Junior Angilau (Texas) and Nishad Strother (East Carolina).