Urban Meyer declares Dan Lanning a Top 3 coach in college football

Entering just his fourth season as a collegiate head coach, 39-year-old Dan Lanning is already drawing rave reviews from his peers, even those that no longer roaming the sidelines.

During a discussion about Oregon‘s 2025 outlook, former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer effusively praised Lanning, describing the Ducks’ head coach as “certainly one of the Top 2-3 coaches in the country right now.”

That’s high praise, especially given the reality that there are only three current college head coaches with at least one national championships on their resume, and Lanning isn’t among them.

“The big gold trophy, that’s it. I went to visit him last year, went to Spring practice, talked to the team, talked to the staff. Watched him behind the scenes. I think he’s certainly one of the Top 2-3 coaches in country right now,” Meyer said on Tuesday’s episode of The Triple Option podcast with co-hosts Rob Stone and Mark Ingram II. “I love his enthusiasm. And here’s what’s really neat, he loves Oregon. He loves that place. His family loves it. He’s got a niche out there, he’s got Nike, it’s a beautiful school, he’s got great facilities. This one ain’t going away.”

Since Nick Saban‘s 2023 retirement at Alabama, his disciple — Georgia‘s Kirby Smart — has overtaken the top spot whenever a new coach ranking drops after claiming back-to-back national championships in 2021-22. By the same token, Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney is the only other current coach with multiple national titles on his resume. And, following the Buckeyes’ 2024 national title run through the first 12-team College Football Playoff, Ryan Day — who replaced Meyer at Ohio State — has a serious case to be considered within the Top 3 on most coach rankings.

And let’s not forget about the handful of other Power Four coaches that have either coached in a national title game or made it within a game of reaching one, including last season’s national runner-up Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame; Penn State‘s James Franklin; Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian and even Alabama‘s Kalen DeBoer, who made the 2023 national championship game against Michigan and Jim Harbaugh when he was still at Washington.

Of course, Lanning saw the Ducks’ (13-1) 2024 College Football Playoff run end with a 41-21 loss to Ohio State in last year’s Rose Bowl national quarterfinal — Oregon’s lone loss of the season. Suffice it to say, if Lanning keeps piling up wins like he has through his first three seasons in Eugene, Meyer’s high praise might just prove prophetic.