Oregon coach Dan Lanning announces he's staying despite Alabama speculation

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Oregon head coach Dan Lanning announced Thursday he's staying put with the Ducks after widespread speculation connecting him to the now-vacant Alabama job in the wake of Nick Saban's retirement Wednesday.

Lanning just finished his second season as a head coach, but he is 22-5 since taking over the Ducks in 2022 after winning a national championship as Georgia's defensive coordinator in 2021. Like many top coaches in the current college football era, the 37-year-old Lanning has ties to Saban and Alabama, having been a graduate assistant under Saban and future Georgia boss Kirby Smart with the Crimson Tide in 2015. 

Saban also said recently he tried to hire Lanning as an assistant in 2018 but was beaten to the punch by Smart at Georgia. Lanning was speculated for months as a potential Saban replacement whenever the Alabama icon did decide to retire, with the speculation reaching a fever pitch after Saban's retirement Wednesday evening amid erroneous reports that Lanning was already in Tuscaloosa.

FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt spoke about Lanning's potential candidacy to succeed Saban at Alabama on a special episode of "The Joel Klatt Show" on Wednesday:

Instead, Lanning has chosen to stay with an Oregon program that could challenge for a conference title in its first season as a Big Ten team next year. 

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