If you watch video of the post-game press conference featuring Oregon’s head football coach, Dan Lanning, you might notice that his smile belies his actual mood. In this case, Lanning was sharing his candid and heartfelt views on the Charlie Kirk assassination.
He maintained his smile throughout even though his words did not completely match his facial expression. Perhaps this is a technique he’s honed as a way to keep it together when he’s forced to deal with the media when they're the last people in the world he’d want to be talking to at the moment.
Oregon had just defeated Northwestern 34-14 in a Big Ten matchup, and Lanning stood at the podium as part of the weekly ritual of taking reporter questions about the game, about the team, and about the season.
It wasn’t far-fetched for a reporter to ask Lanning how he handled talking about the assassination with the team. The night before the game, when Erika Kirk addressed the nation, she listed the Ducks as one of the things Charlie truly loved after his faith, his family, and his country.
She said, “My goodness, did he love the Oregon Ducks. He’d want me to say ‘Go Ducks,’ so I have to, since they play on Saturday. So go Ducks.”
In his post-game presser, Lanning indicated he only recently learned Charlie was a fan, but the question about how he handled discussing the assassination with the team led to an impromptu and lengthy address on mental health, a culture of violence, and free speech.
“I think the U.S. could learn a lot from our locker room; I think the people in this world can learn a lot from our locker room. You walk in that locker room, you got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you got a team that loves each other. Tons of differences: where they come from, what they deal with, and ultimately you got a team that loves each other, and I think we’re missing some of that in our country,” he said.
In the course of Lanning’s response to the question, he said some may feel he talks too much about the societal and cultural issues involved, and some may feel he doesn’t talk enough. But his response to them is, “I don’t really care….What I do care about is, if you disagree with me, if you hate me, if you don’t like me, just know this: I love you. I absolutely love you, right? And life matters. And there’s no way that Charlie should experience, that his family should experience, that there’s no way that that evil should exist in this world."
“And we have to continue to identify and point it out and make sure that it’s absolutely evil," he continued. "There’s no reason in the world that our kids, that we should be worried about sending our kids to school. It’s our most valuable commodity in the world.”
Lanning went on to talk about what people could learn from his team and the way its members handle their differences and how they come together for a common purpose, a common goal. He talked about “internet warriors” and “sick people” who are part of the cultural divide. And he mentioned that when it came to Charlie Kirk’s views, while there were some things he did not agree with, there were a lot of things Lanning did agree with.
“But what’s disappointing is, I could respect those differences and yet somebody else couldn’t, and they thought that they deserved to be God in that moment. And they didn’t, right, and nobody should have to experience that. So yeah, I got a lot of disappointment. We had a Bible study with our team. We talked about it with our team and I think our team feels the same way regardless of views. I don’t think they feel anybody ever deserves to experience what some people in our country are experiencing right now, and it’s super disappointing,” he said before moving on to the next question.
Absolutely worth three minutes of your time.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) September 13, 2025
Dan Lanning with a lot of really poignant thoughts on the Charlie Kirk assassination.
"The US could learn a lot from our locker room... You walk in that locker room you've got guys of different races, backgrounds, religions, and… pic.twitter.com/8hsu17PuBE
