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Oregon AD Rob Mullens receives letter from 14 former Ducks before hiring Dan Lanning
By Keith Farner
Published:
Rob Mullens was in the middle of his coaching search at Oregon last week after Mario Cristobal left for Miami. The Ducks athletics director received a letter from 14 former Oregon players, including prominent figures such as Joey Harrington, Marcus Mariota, Justin Herbert and Akili Smith.
At issue is the direction of the football program before Mullens hired Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning even though Cal coach Justin Wilcox turned him down on Friday. The former players were mobilizing behind the scenes out of concern about the program losing its identity and connection with its past, according to a report from John Canzano of The Oregonian.
Though the letter never mentioned Wilcox by name, Canzano reported that 2 players who signed it confirmed that he was the candidate they wrote about. Wilcox played his at Oregon, but hasn’t publicly talked about why he turned down the job. Lanning will be introduced as the Ducks coach on Monday.
“This feeling comes not from wins and losses, but rather, the idea that in the attempt to chase a national championship, we are losing what made us great in the first place,” the players wrote in the letter. “This is not a Blue Blood program. Our success was built on the continuity and hard work of the players and coaches in the 30 years prior to 2016 and we, as players, feel we are dangerously close to losing our identity.”
“This letter is not an attempt to harp on the loss of the coaching tradition and he connection it brought between generations of players and families both in Eugene and the larger Oregon Duck community. That ship has sailed,” the letter said. “But rather, this letter is to suggest that after two attempts to find a coach outside the ‘Oregon Box’ we believe it may be time again to look within the Oregon family.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
