Kirby Smart shares conversations with Dan Lanning about DC duties in CFP

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is heading West to take over the Oregon Ducks football program, but first, he will try to help the Bulldogs win their first national championship since 1982.

Pulling double duty on opposite coasts is a difficult job, so it makes sense Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has spoken extensively with Lanning about how to make it all work. Ahead of the Orange Bowl against Michigan on Friday, Smart spoke with the media and shined some light on those conversations with his assistant.

“Yeah, we spoke,” Smart said. “We spoke when he took the Oregon job and spoke about it at length. It was quite some time now, quite some time ago now. That’s not a major concern for me. It’s something that I did as a coach and many coaches have done. We talked about it.”

Smart was Alabama’s defensive coordinator in the College Football Playoff prior to taking the Georgia head coaching job in late 2015. Just like Lanning did not coach Oregon in the Alamo Bowl, Smart did not coach Georgia’s bowl game that season, which was ironically the last time they played a Big Ten team. The Bulldogs defeated Penn State 24-17 in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

“There’s not a 24/7 continuum on being just the coordinator,” Smart added. “There’s guys that have other things on their mind, and he delegates his time. I trust Dan. He’s done a tremendous job here. Number one, he’s a great recruiter. He’s loyal to Georgia, he’s loyal to these players that he recruited. He knows for his sake and Oregon’s program’s sake he wants to play well. He’s as invested in this process as everybody is.”

Lanning has been in his role at Georgia since 2019, and he coached outside linebackers only in Athens in 2018. To say Lanning and the rest of the defensive staff have had recruiting success would be a gross understatement. According to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings, Georgia had the No. 2 class in 2019, the No. 1 class in 2020 and the No. 3 class in 2021. There were eight defensive five-star recruits in those three classes. 

On the field, Lanning’s defense this season was the only unit in the nation to allow fewer than 10 points per game this season. This type of recruiting and game success does not happen with just one coach. It takes a team, and Smart is very confident in the coaching team on the defensive side of the ball.

“That’s not a major concern for me having him call the defense being the head coach at Oregon,” Smart said. “I’ve seen it done many times and very confident that he’s giving us every effort he has. He’s got a great staff with him, along with Coach Schumann and Coach Muschamp and myself all have eyes over there, so it’s not like he’s alone, and he hasn’t been alone all year.”

If the Bulldogs fall to Michigan on Friday, Lanning will head out west. If they top the Wolverines in Miami, he will stick around for 10 more days and play for a national title.