Oregon's Dan Lanning cracks top 5 of 2026 head coach rankings

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Going into his fifth year as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks, Dan Lanning has just about done it all. He's won at a high level, recruited at a high level, and proven that everything you need to be a championship-caliber college football team is attainable in Eugene.

While he still needs to figure out the final piece of winning that last game of the year, it's become increasingly clear that Lanning is the right man for the job, and the general feeling is that a championship for the Ducks is more of a question of "when," rather than "if."

So, while Oregon fans may be largely satisfied with the job that Lanning has done thus far, where does that put him on the national landscape? Apparently, right where he was a year ago. Looking at the most recent rankings of the top 25 head coaches in the sport from CBS Sports, Lanning comes in at No. 5 in the nation.

"Dan Lanning has been at Oregon for four seasons and gone 48-8 with a conference record of 32-4 across two leagues," CBS Sports writes. "After winning the Big Ten in his first season, Oregon failed to reach the Big Ten title game last year, but won its first two playoff games since beating Florida State in the first CFP back in 2014. Lanning has achieved a lot, and many view him as the next coach to win their first national title. He has the resume of one of the five best coaches in the country, but until he breaks through with that national title, it's hard to justify moving him up higher than this."

That's completely fair, especially when looking at the four coaches ahead of Lanning: Marcus Freeman (4), Ryan Day (3), Kirby Smart (2), and Curt Cignetti (1).

Until Lanning and the Ducks are able to make it to that championship game, let alone actually win a championship in Eugene, it's hard to imagine a move up the rankings. However, it doesn't feel like Oregon is far off from doing that, and a year from now, we realistically could be talking about the Ducks' head guy sitting atop this list.

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Oregon Ducks HC Dan Lanning ranks among coaches in 2026

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