This is tomorrow's article, but I am going to cut and paste here now:
This season on the Inside Reed, we have focused mostly on 3-2-1 recaps of the prior week’s game with a look ahead to the next game. Well, that would likely have been the plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.
Following the game on Saturday afternoon, Kenny Dillingham took a private jet from Corvallis to Arizona to finalize the deal to become the next Arizona State head coach. With the loss, it looks like Dillingham might not return for a few days and seems likely to not coach in the bowl game. With that, there is the reality that Oregon is in a coordinator search again.
It is no secret and not really inside information to tell you that Dan Lanning runs a very tight ship. As in – there are no real leaks. What I know for sure is that this was not a surprise to anyone and there was a list already in mind when this became a potential reality that Dillingham would likely get the ASU job.
First a note: I am not going to include anyone that is listed as a WR coach/Passing Game coordinator. Oregon has one of those and Lanning loves the work of Junior Adams. That means guys like Brennan Marion, James Coley, Cortez Hankerton are out. Also, unless Carlos Locklyn leaves, Oregon is not going to get a RB coach as their coordinator and I think Locklyn is about to get a sizeable raise.
Internal candidates: I don’t believe that there is anyone on staff Lanning intends to promote to play calling offensive coordinator.
Dan Mullen: There is no real connection between Mullen and Lanning, but I know that the Oregon athletic department liked him enough at Mississippi State to offer him a job as a head coach once upon a time. He has been vetted in the past and this would be one of those slam dunk type hires. Would he be gone after a year or two? Almost surely. Is he going to come to Oregon as a coordinator? That seems unlikely, but I do not know how deep any conversations went this time. I just know that he is on the short list of those you call and check in with.
Tom Herman: Herman is an exceptional recruiter and a pretty solid Xs and Os guy. Did he have flaws as a head coach? Yes. But he probably was not as bad as he was made out to be by Texas boosters. This is the same line as Mullen. Seems unlikely, and might be more of a culture issue, but he could be given the keys to the offense and be an extraordinary play caller.
Chip Long: He was interviewed by Oregon’s former head coach for a coordinator position and was passed over. He can also recruit and is a very good Xs and Os guy. But the word out there is that he is very difficult to work with, I don’t know if that is true, that is just what others say. He is a part of the Norvell tree. Lanning and Long were on the same staff for two seasons at Arizona State and one at Memphis, so there is a familiarity and that might work. The dilemma here is that he is not really a QB coach, and the Ducks still need to get someone to coach QBs if they go with someone like Long.
Phil Longo: Longo and Lanning were on the same staff at Sam Houston State for a single season in 2014, so they are sort of familiar with each other. The thing that makes Longo appealing is that he is severely underpaid for what he produces. His work at North Carolina should speak for itself. This would be a good hire and his reputation as a QB coach would likely keep Dante Moore in the flock.
Darrell Dickey: This one is intriguing for two reasons; one he has a lot of experience and would be a good calming influence and two because he has some solid contact with a lot of elite recruits. I am not sure that this is the direction in which Lanning would go. Dickey is currently the tight end coach and offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, but he was the QB coach there for four seasons – oh, and he was also on the same Memphis staff with Lanning for two seasons.
Garrett Riley: I think there is going to be a bidding war for Riley and it seems highly unlikely that Oregon goes after Lincoln Riley’s brother and/or that he would take that job even of offered, but I have seen stranger things happen. His work with TCU has been impressive, though, and he might be cut from a cloth that says if he has the right personnel, balance would matter to him.
Kevin Johns: While Johns and Lanning did not work together, both are tied to Mike Norvell. Johns was the offensive coordinator at Memphis from 2019-2021 before moving over to Duke as offensive coordinator this season. His coaching experience started under current Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson in 2011 as the offensive coordinator at Indiana. He has also worked under Kliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator for a season at Texas Tech. This one seems a stretch.
Bo Graham: I am going to shake as much of the tree branches as possible. Graham and Lanning were Gas together at Pitt and both went to Arizona State for two years together. In 2012 Graham was the Director of Recruiting – a year later Lanning was the recruiting coordinator when Graham moved to an on-field role. I don’t know that this is the guy, but he also worked with former Oregon assistant A’lique Terry at Hawaii for a season.
Joe Brady: I will probably just say that I know he is the dream candidate for a lot of people. But I have heard he does not want to go back to college coaching and does not really like recruiting that much. Seems like a really bad fit given the nature of what Lanning is going to expect. But people love him so I will include him for that reason alone.
Tony Tokarz: Who? Tokarz is the QB coach for Florida State. The Seminoles offense is better this year thanks in large part to Tokarz’s work with Jordan Travis. The problem is that Tokarz has zero play calling experience. But he has proven himself to be a very good QB coach and is young. Should Oregon decide to hire a coordinator who is not a QB coach, this is also a name on which to keep an eye if the Ducks want to go that direction. Also watch for him in the future to get more opportunities.
Tokarz did work on the same staff as Lanning in 2017 at Memphis, but I don’t know how close they are.
Tommy Rees: Why am I including him, because Notre Dame was the second team on Dante Moore’s list and we know he has a good relationship with Moore. Rees is young but does have a couple of years calling plays with Notre Dame. The Irish have not been particularly explosive under him and his record at QB development is incomplete at the moment. I don’t think this nis a direction Lanning would go, but the name is out there and I wanted to cover it at the very least.
G.J. Kinne: There is a roundabout connection from Kinne to Lanning. Kinne has only been coaching since 2017 (after several years bouncing around different professional football leagues) and is now the head coach at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. In his short career he has worked under Chad Morris, Gus Malzahn and Todd Graham.
As a team this season, Incarnate Word is averaging over 582 yards per game and almost 53 points per game. They are a pass heavy team, but still average 200 yards rushing per game. Kinne is on the short list to replace Jake Spavital at Texas State.
Jake Spavital: He is fairly young and a great offensive mind. Oregon could likely get a couple of years out of him before any other suitors started calling, but he is also from the Air Raid tree and has been a pass heavy offensive mind. Not sure that this is the direction Lanning wants to go.
Zach Kittley: Kittley played at Texas Tech and is now their offensive coordinator. Along the way, though, he was instrumental in the development of Bailey Zappe – the early darling of the NFL season when he stepped in for Mac Jones in New England. He worked under Tyson Helton at Western Kentucky and worked with former Oregon QB Tyler Shough at Texas Tech. Another Air Raid type coordinator, so still unsure if that is the direction in which Lanning wants to go, but this is just another name to watch.
Kendal Briles: I don’t think he leaves the south to move to Oregon, but you never know. The more years he gets away from Baylor the more palatable he becomes to many programs. The offense he runs at Arkansas reflects his current coach more so than his past coaching stops. He has coached under Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic as well as under former Oregon head coach Willie Taggart. Ironically, if Briles were somehow to become the next Oregon offensive coordinator, he would succeed Kenny Dillingham – who succeeded Briles at Florida State.
Other Candidates: There are a lot of other people with whom I am sure Lanning is familiar that I am not. This could go several different directions as well depending on any assistant coaches that want to follow Dillingham to ASU. That creates a whole different list. But this is what I have for now. I will try and talk with people this week, but I have a feeling that this will be done very quickly and my conversations might be more after the fact ‘how it happened’ types of information.
This season on the Inside Reed, we have focused mostly on 3-2-1 recaps of the prior week’s game with a look ahead to the next game. Well, that would likely have been the plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.
Following the game on Saturday afternoon, Kenny Dillingham took a private jet from Corvallis to Arizona to finalize the deal to become the next Arizona State head coach. With the loss, it looks like Dillingham might not return for a few days and seems likely to not coach in the bowl game. With that, there is the reality that Oregon is in a coordinator search again.
It is no secret and not really inside information to tell you that Dan Lanning runs a very tight ship. As in – there are no real leaks. What I know for sure is that this was not a surprise to anyone and there was a list already in mind when this became a potential reality that Dillingham would likely get the ASU job.
First a note: I am not going to include anyone that is listed as a WR coach/Passing Game coordinator. Oregon has one of those and Lanning loves the work of Junior Adams. That means guys like Brennan Marion, James Coley, Cortez Hankerton are out. Also, unless Carlos Locklyn leaves, Oregon is not going to get a RB coach as their coordinator and I think Locklyn is about to get a sizeable raise.
Internal candidates: I don’t believe that there is anyone on staff Lanning intends to promote to play calling offensive coordinator.
Dan Mullen: There is no real connection between Mullen and Lanning, but I know that the Oregon athletic department liked him enough at Mississippi State to offer him a job as a head coach once upon a time. He has been vetted in the past and this would be one of those slam dunk type hires. Would he be gone after a year or two? Almost surely. Is he going to come to Oregon as a coordinator? That seems unlikely, but I do not know how deep any conversations went this time. I just know that he is on the short list of those you call and check in with.
Tom Herman: Herman is an exceptional recruiter and a pretty solid Xs and Os guy. Did he have flaws as a head coach? Yes. But he probably was not as bad as he was made out to be by Texas boosters. This is the same line as Mullen. Seems unlikely, and might be more of a culture issue, but he could be given the keys to the offense and be an extraordinary play caller.
Chip Long: He was interviewed by Oregon’s former head coach for a coordinator position and was passed over. He can also recruit and is a very good Xs and Os guy. But the word out there is that he is very difficult to work with, I don’t know if that is true, that is just what others say. He is a part of the Norvell tree. Lanning and Long were on the same staff for two seasons at Arizona State and one at Memphis, so there is a familiarity and that might work. The dilemma here is that he is not really a QB coach, and the Ducks still need to get someone to coach QBs if they go with someone like Long.
Phil Longo: Longo and Lanning were on the same staff at Sam Houston State for a single season in 2014, so they are sort of familiar with each other. The thing that makes Longo appealing is that he is severely underpaid for what he produces. His work at North Carolina should speak for itself. This would be a good hire and his reputation as a QB coach would likely keep Dante Moore in the flock.
Darrell Dickey: This one is intriguing for two reasons; one he has a lot of experience and would be a good calming influence and two because he has some solid contact with a lot of elite recruits. I am not sure that this is the direction in which Lanning would go. Dickey is currently the tight end coach and offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, but he was the QB coach there for four seasons – oh, and he was also on the same Memphis staff with Lanning for two seasons.
Garrett Riley: I think there is going to be a bidding war for Riley and it seems highly unlikely that Oregon goes after Lincoln Riley’s brother and/or that he would take that job even of offered, but I have seen stranger things happen. His work with TCU has been impressive, though, and he might be cut from a cloth that says if he has the right personnel, balance would matter to him.
Kevin Johns: While Johns and Lanning did not work together, both are tied to Mike Norvell. Johns was the offensive coordinator at Memphis from 2019-2021 before moving over to Duke as offensive coordinator this season. His coaching experience started under current Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson in 2011 as the offensive coordinator at Indiana. He has also worked under Kliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator for a season at Texas Tech. This one seems a stretch.
Bo Graham: I am going to shake as much of the tree branches as possible. Graham and Lanning were Gas together at Pitt and both went to Arizona State for two years together. In 2012 Graham was the Director of Recruiting – a year later Lanning was the recruiting coordinator when Graham moved to an on-field role. I don’t know that this is the guy, but he also worked with former Oregon assistant A’lique Terry at Hawaii for a season.
Joe Brady: I will probably just say that I know he is the dream candidate for a lot of people. But I have heard he does not want to go back to college coaching and does not really like recruiting that much. Seems like a really bad fit given the nature of what Lanning is going to expect. But people love him so I will include him for that reason alone.
Tony Tokarz: Who? Tokarz is the QB coach for Florida State. The Seminoles offense is better this year thanks in large part to Tokarz’s work with Jordan Travis. The problem is that Tokarz has zero play calling experience. But he has proven himself to be a very good QB coach and is young. Should Oregon decide to hire a coordinator who is not a QB coach, this is also a name on which to keep an eye if the Ducks want to go that direction. Also watch for him in the future to get more opportunities.
Tokarz did work on the same staff as Lanning in 2017 at Memphis, but I don’t know how close they are.
Tommy Rees: Why am I including him, because Notre Dame was the second team on Dante Moore’s list and we know he has a good relationship with Moore. Rees is young but does have a couple of years calling plays with Notre Dame. The Irish have not been particularly explosive under him and his record at QB development is incomplete at the moment. I don’t think this nis a direction Lanning would go, but the name is out there and I wanted to cover it at the very least.
G.J. Kinne: There is a roundabout connection from Kinne to Lanning. Kinne has only been coaching since 2017 (after several years bouncing around different professional football leagues) and is now the head coach at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. In his short career he has worked under Chad Morris, Gus Malzahn and Todd Graham.
As a team this season, Incarnate Word is averaging over 582 yards per game and almost 53 points per game. They are a pass heavy team, but still average 200 yards rushing per game. Kinne is on the short list to replace Jake Spavital at Texas State.
Jake Spavital: He is fairly young and a great offensive mind. Oregon could likely get a couple of years out of him before any other suitors started calling, but he is also from the Air Raid tree and has been a pass heavy offensive mind. Not sure that this is the direction Lanning wants to go.
Zach Kittley: Kittley played at Texas Tech and is now their offensive coordinator. Along the way, though, he was instrumental in the development of Bailey Zappe – the early darling of the NFL season when he stepped in for Mac Jones in New England. He worked under Tyson Helton at Western Kentucky and worked with former Oregon QB Tyler Shough at Texas Tech. Another Air Raid type coordinator, so still unsure if that is the direction in which Lanning wants to go, but this is just another name to watch.
Kendal Briles: I don’t think he leaves the south to move to Oregon, but you never know. The more years he gets away from Baylor the more palatable he becomes to many programs. The offense he runs at Arkansas reflects his current coach more so than his past coaching stops. He has coached under Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic as well as under former Oregon head coach Willie Taggart. Ironically, if Briles were somehow to become the next Oregon offensive coordinator, he would succeed Kenny Dillingham – who succeeded Briles at Florida State.
Other Candidates: There are a lot of other people with whom I am sure Lanning is familiar that I am not. This could go several different directions as well depending on any assistant coaches that want to follow Dillingham to ASU. That creates a whole different list. But this is what I have for now. I will try and talk with people this week, but I have a feeling that this will be done very quickly and my conversations might be more after the fact ‘how it happened’ types of information.
