Dan Lanning has never been shy about borrowing ideas from the coaches who shaped him, and Mike Norvell is one of the biggest names on that list.
That’s why Norvell’s dismissal at Florida State has Oregon fans buzzing as Lanning works through another coordinator search. The Ducks coach is back in the familiar spot of replacing a key assistant, and this time the conversation has drifted toward a coach he knows well.
Lanning already made one move this season after firing offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer seven games into the 2026 campaign. Jay Johnson stepped in to handle play-calling on an interim basis while Lanning sorts out the next step.
Chip Kelly’s name has also been floating around because of his past success at Oregon, but Norvell brings a different kind of intrigue. His connection to Lanning runs deep, stretching back through multiple stops and several years of shared coaching history.
The two first crossed paths at Pittsburgh in 2011. Lanning was a graduate assistant, while Norvell was co-offensive coordinator on Todd Graham’s staff.
They followed Graham to Arizona State the next year. Norvell handled offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach duties there, while Lanning worked in defensive and recruiting roles during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Lanning later moved on to Sam Houston State as defensive backs coach and co-recruiting coordinator before landing at Alabama as a graduate assistant for the Crimson Tide’s 2015 national championship season.
Norvell and Lanning reunited at Memphis, where Norvell hired Lanning away from Alabama to coach inside linebackers and serve as recruiting coordinator during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
That relationship clearly left a mark. Lanning has credited Norvell, Nick Saban and Kirby Smart as coaches who influenced the way he built Oregon’s program, and he has described pulling pieces from each stop to shape an offense built around versatility, physicality and quarterback play.
“Yeah, I think ultimately, getting to watch Nick and Kirby both, Mike, there were things that you walked away with. And as a head coach, you're like, OK, I want this to be a part of what we do,” Lanning said.
He has also spoken highly of Norvell’s energy and approach.
“Mike has a crazy passion for the game,” Lanning said in 2024 on Bussin’ With The Boys. “When it comes to his intensity, you want to see that start at the top.
You want a head coach that you know he’s not going to ask you to do anything that he’s not willing to do. He put in the work, he put in the time.
He looked at things outside the box, right? … A guy that’s willing to put in everything that they have for us to be successful and willing to adapt and change.”
Norvell’s résumé is the kind that naturally draws attention. He began his head coaching career at Memphis in 2016 before taking over at Florida State for the 2020 season. Along the way, he won conference championships at both schools and collected national coach of the year honors.
His best year in Tallahassee came in 2023, when Florida State opened 13-0 and won the ACC title before being left out of the four-team College Football Playoff. That season brought him both the Dodd Trophy and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award.
Norvell also built a reputation as one of college football’s more inventive offensive minds, leaning on tempo, multiple personnel groupings and a flexible running game to stress defenses. On top of that, he spent seven seasons recruiting in Florida, giving him another layer of experience in one of the country’s deepest talent pools.
At Memphis, he turned the Tigers into a conference champion and delivered the program’s first outright league title since 1969. Over four seasons, he went 38-15, capped by a school-record 12 wins, the American Athletic Conference championship and a Cotton Bowl berth in 2019.
His Florida State tenure ended after seven seasons and a 3-5 start in 2026.
For Oregon, the immediate question is still who takes over the offense next. Lanning has said he is watching developments around college football and the NFL, but he does not expect a decision “right around the corner.”
Still, Norvell’s name now sits in the middle of that conversation, tied to a coach Lanning has repeatedly said helped shape him. Whether that connection leads anywhere from here is another matter.
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