Dan Lanning is doing his best Bill Belichick impression with the local Oregon media whenever they talk about Dante Moore and his injury against the USC Trojans. He’s on to UCLA.
Lanning has never been shy about the media and sharing his viewpoint. After the game, he called the hit disgusting. Then he made the rounds nationally, talking to Dave Portnoy and Wake Up Barstool about the play and his reaction. He also appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to talk about it.
But unfortunately for local media in Eugene hoping to get perspective from the head coach, that’s where he drew the line.
At his Wednesday press availability, Dan Lanning answered one question about Moore before shooting down a second, demanding that the room move on because he was done talking about last week’s game.
Dan Lanning seemed to take issue with questions by local media today about Dante Moore and the USC game. Extremely animated about wanting to move on despite this being his first availability since Saturday.
🎥: @MattPrehm #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/Q3Z1VXZntv
— Ryan Clarke (@RyanTClarke) September 30, 2026
“I’m done talking about this game, guys. Let’s move to the next. I appreciate all of your questions about this, but that game’s over with. We’re about to play a UCLA team that reminds me a lot of Indiana from last year. Great staff, and let’s just be honest, we’re not remotely close to what we need to be. We’re not remotely close. No offense to the question, but we can’t spend a week talking about a game that happened last Saturday. And I get it, you guys didn’t get to see me on Monday, but let’s talk about the future here.”
It’s got to be tough if you’re a reporter in that room and see Dan Lanning be open and engaging with the likes of Dave Portnoy and Pat McAfee, and then he shoots down your question days later because he has decided that he’s done talking about a subject you still have questions about. At least he addressed it head-on and explained himself, but it doesn’t change the dynamic.
But that’s the life of local media in an age where it’s all about national exposure, and you find yourselves being left behind.
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