While Bo Nix will likely never step foot on the Plains again as a member of the Tigers, Auburn football could still end up with the next best thing: the head coach that has turned him into a Heisman candidate.
Dan Lanning, the current Oregon HC and defensive coordinator for Georgia during their 2021 National Championship run — one whose unit had the best defensive efficiency of any College Football Playoff champion since its inception — reportedly has an interest in the Auburn football coaching role according to Auburn Daily’s Lance Dawe.
Lanning is one of the top two head coaching candidates alongside Lane Kiffin — whose contract situation could lead him to an attractive offer from AU since, per Mississippi state law, no public employee can be offered a contract longer than four years.
In his first season as a head coach at any level in 2022, Lanning has led Oregon to an 8-1 record through Week 10. Nix has already surpassed his single-season touchdown record, and after the Ducks’ next game against Washington at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, he will likely have set a career-best in completions and passing yards as well.
Auburn football must pursue Bo Nix’s current offensive coordinator too
It’d be an ideal situation for Auburn football if not only Dan Lanning came to the Plains, but also the offensive coordinator who is responsible for Bo Nix’s best two collegiate seasons: Kenny Dillingham.
Dillingham was a Gus Malzahn hire that helped Nix thrive in his first year in Auburn who left for Florida State following the 2019 season. Without Dillingham, Nix took a big step back his sophomore year, albeit during the COVID-19 pandemic’s darkest days, before showing improvement under Bryan Harsin before his injury and eventual transfer in 2021.
Besides Nix, Dillingham developed Jordan Travis into a workable starting quarterback who had a 1:1 touchdown-interception ratio during the OC’s first season in Tallahassee into a 15-touchdown, six-interception signal-caller in Dillingham’s second year.
Lanning and Dillingham as the head coach and offensive coordinator — while maintaining interim Auburn football HC Carnell “Cadillac” Williams as running backs coach — would make for quite the coaching staff upgrade in 2023 and beyond.