Oregon coach Dan Lanning was asked Sunday night when he would like to have an offensive coordinator hired and he joked that it would get done "sometime between now and when it happens."
He also said the Ducks were close to filling the void left when Kenny Dillingham became the head coach at Arizona State last week, and apparently he meant very close.
Multiple national reports Monday have the Ducks set to hire UTSA co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Will Stein, as first reported by Matt Zenitz of On3.com and followed by a host of others.
Stein became UTSA's co-OC/QBs coach last January after spending two previous seasons as the Roadrunners' pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator at Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas., and an offensive quality control analyst at Texas in 2015-16.
Stein was a quarterback at Louisville from 2008-12, passing for 1,273 yards, 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in a limited role.
Some fans may have questions about Stein's limited resume -- at least in terms of longevity and experience -- and Lanning said something Sunday night that might as well serve as a response on that matter.
"I don't really worry about other people's expectations. What you do is you hire the best people you possibly can for the job. I know 12 months ago there were some hires I made that people weren't necessarily as excited about, and I think the results speak for themselves. Things went really well," Lanning said. "So people are going to write whatever they want. Here's what you have to know. I'm going to do anything and everything I can to make sure we get the best people in place for Oregon to be successful in football. And luckily here, we have the ability to go attract the best of the best.
"Don't really care what logo they have on, don't care what team they're associated with, I'm interested in getting the best people."
While Stein's resume may be short on years, it's not lacking productivity.
He's coming off a great season in San Antonio as his Roadrunners ranked No. 9 nationally in total offense at 486.1 yards per game and 12th in scoring at 38.7 points per game. That was led by a strong passing offense that also ranked 12th nationally at 308.6 yards per game.
At UTSA, he shared the coordinator duties with offensive line coach Matt Mattox, suggesting Stein would have been more involved with the passing game.
As for what Lanning was looking for in the position after a season in which the Ducks ranked fourth nationally in total offense at 507.8 yards per game under Dillingham, he said the offense was not contingent on the coordinator.
"Ultimately, this is the Oregon system. We have an offensive plan that we put together when we got here. That doesn't change when the offensive coordinator change[s]," Lanning said. "There's some things that we believe in that we're going to carry as long as I'm here. We're going to have a philosophy in what we look like, we're going to be able to adapt moving forward. The traits of who we are, that's not really going to change. As you look for a fit, you look for somebody that brings elements to the program that you're excited about, some things that you can adapt.
"Every year we're going to do a self scout and evaluate what we can do better, find some things that we think are areas for us to grow, but college football changes every year. So if we came out and we ran the exact same offense next year that we ran this year with no changes that would be a poor performance on our part. We're going to grow and play to the strengths of our players and I expect whoever we have there in the offensive coordinator chair to do the same things."
Oregon was balanced offensively this season with the No. 14-ranked rushing offense in the country (216.2 yards per game) and the 15th-ranked passing offense (291.5 YPG), led by dual-threat quarterback Bo Nix, who has yet to declare his intentions on whether he'll return for his final year of eligibility or pursue the NFL.
Lanning said his new OC would not be involved in preparations for the Holiday Bowl, noting the offense will be a collaborative effort between the remaining assistant coaches, with tight ends coach Drew Mehringer and wide receivers coach Junior Adams taking the lead. Meanwhile, Lanning promoted offensive analyst Jordan Somerville to fill out the offensive staff for the remainder of the season.
"I'm not going to ask anybody to come in right now and call the bowl game different from what we've done in the past. I don't think that's fair to bring a brand new coach in and asked them to call the bowl game when there's terminology and some differences there," Lanning said. "... I think it will be a collaborative effort with our offensive staff. I think Coach Mehringer, Coach Adams will really take on the lead roles there. They've both been coordinators in the past. We certainly have a staff that's qualified to do that. I think Kenny would be the first one to tell you that they've been a big part of this process this entire season and the success that we've had on offense. And they'll continue to be that moving forward for us."
