Oregon coach Dan Lanning: 'I'm not leaving'

Oregon coach Dan Lanning doesn't look like a man who's considering being Nick Saban's successor.

Lanning posted a video to social media Thursday that said he was not leaving Oregon. Lanning was immediately mentioned as a favorite to be Alabama's next head coach following Saban's retirement on Wednesday.

While you can never say never when it comes to the college football coaching carousel, the video is about as strong of a statement as you can get that Lanning won't be on Alabama's sideline in 2024. The video included text that read, "If you're scared your coach is leaving, then come play for us. The Ducks aren't going anywhere and I'm not leaving."

The text was then followed by a brief clip of Lanning smoking a cigar.

Oregon went 12-2 in 2023 and enters its first season in the Big Ten as one of the favorites to win the conference and is a strong candidate to make the 12-team playoff. The Ducks added former Oklahoma and UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel to replace Bo Nix and have a lot of returning talent on both sides of the ball.

Lanning has been Oregon's coach for the past two seasons after taking over for Mario Cristobal. Lanning came to Eugene after serving as Georgia's defensive coordinator and was a graduate assistant at Alabama under Saban.