Canzano: Oregon Ducks take stage... and the first fumbles of the season
Rick Neuheisel, Jonathan Smith, Lincoln Riley, DeShaun Foster... and things overheard at Big Ten Media Day.
INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Neuheisel told me a golf story this week at Big Ten Football Media Days. The long-time college football coach and CBS analyst invited Dan Lanning to a golf tournament he’s involved in last spring.
The Oregon Ducks football coach showed up at Pebble Beach and played in the annual “Coaches Classic” in May. Lanning even made a hole-in-one on ‘The Hay,’ the nine-hole short course. But that’s not what impressed Neuheisel most.
“He makes an ace just to announce his arrival,” Neuheisel said. “And then, on Monday nights we have this BBQ where new coaches — anybody new to this extravaganza — has to get up and sing for their supper. It’s basically like rookies singing their fight song. A band is there, you pick the song you want to play, the band plays it, and now you’ve got to perform.”
Lanning’s song choice?
“Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield.
“He killed it,” Neuheisel said. “He slayed it. Not some easy little country croon. He absolutely killed it. And I’m sitting there going, ‘He’s going to be just fine.’ He has moxie and then some.”
Neuheisel and I visited at Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday. We talked in depth about Lanning’s growth as a head coach and Oregon’s inaugural season as a Big Ten Conference member.
Said Neuheisel: “I think Oregon is the favorite.”
Hold up.
Not Ohio State?!?
“Oregon has been beautifully constructed — both from high school recruiting and, also, the portal,” Neuheisel told me. He pointed out that Bo Nix, the most experienced starting quarterback in college football history (61 starts) is about to be replaced by a guy in Dillon Gabriel (49 starts) who is positioned to break Nix’s record.
“If he stays healthy,” Neuheisel said, “and that game is in Eugene when Oregon and Ohio State meet? I like Oregon.”
Lanning is 22-5 since taking over in Eugene. He lost three of those games to Washington. The other two defeats came in his first season (to Oregon State and Georgia). I asked Neuheisel, who spent 12 seasons as a head coach in the Pac-12, what kind of growth we might expect from Lanning in season No. 3.
Said Neuheisel: “Wisdom comes with experience, right?”
Lanning was criticized last season after coming up short in Week 7 vs. Washington on three straight ‘go-for-it’ decisions on fourth down. It cost Oregon the game, but I didn’t mind the aggressive mentality. It was over the edge, but on-brand for Lanning, who gambled that afternoon like he was playing with house money.
He was 37 at the time and had been a head football coach for 22 months. Lanning jumped off the pier, dove too deep, and drowned in his ambition that day. It cost him. But I figured Lanning would learn from it, note where he went wrong, and eventually find a depth where he could swim.
It’s like Ernest Hemingway wrote: “Mistakes are proof that you’re trying.” But only if you learn from the misfires, course correct, and use the experience to your advantage.
“He’s an emotional guy and a defensive guy,” Neuheisel told me. “There’s an aggression that comes with his personality that wants to be full throttle. There’s got to be times when the prudent decision is to back off the throttle.”
Lanning will speak to the media on Thursday in Indianapolis. He’ll be asked about joining the Big Ten and replacing Bo Nix. I’m scheduled to talk 1-on-1 with Lanning. But I’m most interested in observing him this season and seeing how much better he is on the sideline.
Oregon won 12 games last season and might have been the third-best team in the country. There were some encouraging markers, too. The Ducks won on the road in a couple of difficult places (Texas Tech and Utah). Also, they beat USC with comfort and exposed Colorado in an impressive nationally televised display. Then, came the offseason recruiting jackpot.
The secret sauce in Eugene starts with the recruiting tools that Phil Knight has gifted the program. Lanning is no dummy. He’s smart to plant roots in Oregon. There are some fun advantages. The expanded playoff should feature his team regularly and he’s recruiting like nobody in school history.
As one long-time donor told me recently: “It will be interesting to see if they can optimize the talent in the game of football.”
That’s the job now.
FREEZING UP: Did anyone else catch UCLA coach DeShaun Foster’s appearance at Big Ten Football Media Days on Wednesday? The first-time, first-year head coach had a solid 22 seconds or so on the stage before he drifted off into what might best be described as a trance.
“I’m sure you guys don’t know too much about UCLA,” Foster said.
He followed with: “We’re in LA — it’s us and USC.”
Then, he just sort of froze and looked around the venue like he was lost in thought. After an extended pause, he chuckled. I felt bad for Foster, who recovered and was much better in small-group sessions later in the day. But UCLA’s coach looked unprepared and rattled by the big stage in his initial thoughts.
I get it. It was Foster’s first media day appearance as a head coach at any level. Lucas Oil Stadium is a massive cavern. He was given a cue by a Big Ten Network staffer, walked out on stage, looked up, and saw hundreds of media members staring back at him. A bunch of TV cameras were trained on him. And to be fair, some of the other head coaches sounded a little nervous with their opening statements this week. But those coaches happened to have a prepared statement in front of them to lean on.
Someone at UCLA needed to put some notes in Foster’s hand and prep him. It amounted to a shaky opening act.
GOODWILL TOUR: Jonathan Smith is a good football coach. I like the guy and understand the professional reasons why he left Oregon State. But I don’t think he handled his exit in Corvallis as smoothly as he could have.
I also think Smith could have been a little more patient and done better than landing at Michigan State, but I’m not his agent.
I caught up with Smith on Wednesday in Indianapolis and wrote a column about it. We talked about his decision to leave OSU, the infamous Goodwill drop of his Beavers’ apparel, and lingering bad feelings from a stripe of fans.
The comment section of that column is an entertaining and informative read. One reader referenced an episode of the TV show “The Office” in which Dwight Schrute professed his undying loyalty to Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
“Would I ever leave this company?” Schrute said. “Look, I’m all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I’m being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I’m going wherever they value loyalty the most.”
Ain’t it the truth.
USC POWER OUTAGE: Lincoln Riley pushed back against the narrative that USC has lost its football mojo on Wednesday.
“I don’t ever look at ourselves as below anybody — and never will,” Riley said. “Listen, two years ago, look where Ohio State and Oregon were. Look what they took over. Look what we took over. It takes time. I’m not a magician. I can’t wave a magic wand and have everything be perfect right away. But find one area where we haven’t made progress. It’s coming. Nothing is going to stop it.”
The act fell flat.
It was just two years ago that Riley was hired, given a $110 million contract, and the keys to the Trojan empire. He’s 19-8 at USC. Compare that to Oregon’s Dan Lanning, who posted a 22-5 record in the same span.
Riley’s right, though, isn’t he? Oregon had a lot more momentum and Phil Knight on its side. Simply, Mario Cristobal left more talent in his wake than Clay Helton did. Also, the AD who hired Riley at USC (Mike Bohn) is long gone. Still, nobody wants to hear about the growing pains. Riley is paid well to perform.
It reminds me of something former NBA General Manager Bob Whitsitt told me once. Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey was busy complaining that free agents didn’t like to come to Portland. I called Whitsitt, who told me: “Everybody likes to have excuses. It’s a tough business. There aren’t excuses. The job is to get the job done.”
I spoke with Riley briefly in Indianapolis on Wednesday. He sounded motivated and locked in. If USC can shore up the defensive lapses this season, he’ll laugh last. But if he can’t fix the defense and struggles to compete at the top of the Big Ten, his seat will warm as that massive contract melts.
Washington coach Jedd Fisch will be at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday. He’s slotted to appear on the main stage at 9:15 a.m. PT. He’ll do individual interviews later in the day. If you have a question you’d like me to ask the UW coach, drop it in the comment section.
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Beautiful. “Lanning jumped off the pier, dove too deep, and drowned in his ambition that day.”
This is why you’re one-of-a-kind, John.
John - just a quick note here - very much late - to say thanks so much for printing Bill Walton's favorite books list. I've read a few, but am planning a major assault on my public library to plow through most of them. Really appreciate sharing this, and yet another insight into a remarkable human being.