A day after relieving offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer of his duties following a disastrous past three weeks, Oregon football coach Dan Lanning explained the move during his Monday press conference Oct. 26.
Ultimately, the fifth-year coach said the Ducks (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) are looking to "spark" an anemic offense suffering without starting quarterback Dante Moore.
"I felt like we needed a change on offense," Lanning said. "Certainly grateful for Drew and all his contributions, and there were plays out there to be made, where it wasn’t the play call … ultimately, you’re looking for a spark and our opportunity to make sure that you can salvage and have some success this season. So we made a change there. Drew’s done an unbelievable job here for a long time. He’s a phenomenal coach and it just didn’t work out."
Though offensive play calling under Lanning has always been collaborative, the coach said assistant quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson will take over primary play calling duties for the rest of the season.
Johnson is the only Oregon staffer with significant offensive play calling experience, with stops at Michigan State and Colorado.
"He’s also coming in with a different perspective and a different view, not being with us the last few years," Lanning said. "He can provide a couple of things that might be different than what we’ve done that I think can trigger some success for us on that side of the ball."
Lanning said dismissing Mehringer was "on my radar" in past weeks but he wanted to give his staff "every opportunity to have success." After a 21-10 loss to Illinois, a game in which the offense was shut out in the second half, Lanning fired Mehringer.
Lanning said his offense needs to do a better job of staying on schedule, moving the chains on third down, running the ball and pushing the ball down the field.
Work has already begun to identify Oregon's next full-time offensive coordinator, though Lanning doesn't expect that to be finalized any time soon.
"I don’t think an announcement is gonna happen right around the corner," Lanning said. "Again, to think that you’re not always preparing for moments like that, I think would be wrong, too. So there’s an awareness, there’s an evaluation process. You want to be really thorough as you go through that. Is that going to be occurring over the next few weeks, months? Yes. Does that mean that we make an announcement tomorrow? It just doesn’t really fit with the cycle of football."
Former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, current offensive coordinator for Northwestern, will be back in Eugene this week when the Ducks take on the Wildcats at Autzen Stadium
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: After Drew Mehringer firing, who will call plays for Oregon offense?