EUGENE — After firing first-year offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer seven games into the 2026 season, Dan Lanning shared Oregon‘s plans for filling his role moving forward at his weekly press conference Monday night.
Offensive assistant Jay Johnson will lead offensive playcalling for the Ducks going forward, Lanning said.
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“He has a lot of experience as a play-caller, was with me in Georgia when we were part of the national championship team,” Lanning said. “Went on to have a lot of success in Colorado and Michigan State. He’s gonna lead the efforts there with the offensive staff, but it’ll still be a collaborative effort, with a lot of the work that we do.
“He’s also coming in with a different perspective, a different view, not being with us the last few years, where he can provide a couple things that might be different than what we’ve done.”
Mehringer, previously the tight ends coach for the Ducks, is the first assistant coach Lanning has fired in his tenure at Oregon, which began in 2022. The Ducks’ offensive decision-making was at the center of intense criticism over the past three weeks, during which Oregon averaged just 14 points per game and lost twice to UCLA and Illinois.
Lanning spoke to the human element of letting Mehringer go.
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“They see the football coach, right? That’s also an unbelievable dad. A great husband,” Lanning said. “The guy’s been part of our staff for the last five years, that’s done some really good things here, and I think all of us feel like we shoulder some of the blame. Because we didn’t create success for our team this season.”
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