This is a statement some of you guys like to make and it’s not reflective of what actually happened and @Rellyrell has provided the information previously.Look at what happened the second Lanning didn't have Mario's roster to lean on
I’m not going to make a retrospective effort to negate a premature take, because doing that would be making the exact same mistake they did. My point is that there should have been absolutely no conclusion drawn with an incomplete sample-size or comparison made at the time, and especially not to Lanning.
This thread was bumped for one specific reason: the irrational confidence of crowning Lanning. Had his name not been used to critique Mario, then the absurdity of this thread wouldn't hold such relevance now. Asking for a real-time comparison at that specific moment in history completely negates the massive foundation Mario built at Oregon compared to the total rebuild he faced at Miami. It’s wild to base your entire comparison on a situational head start that Mario himself provided for Lanning.
Taking a snapshot from late 2024 to justify a "Lanning > Mario" thread is a futile effort to make sense of an awful take. It doesn't prove who the better program builder is; it just proves what day it was on the calendar.
However, if making a bad hire or losing a game you shouldn't means a coach "isn't the guy," then Lanning fails by those metrics as well. Look at what happened the second Lanning didn't have Mario's roster to lean on, or what happened the second Will Stein left for Kentucky and Lanning had to replace his staff. His team looks soft and the Oregon offense completely fell back to earth after he promoted Drew Mehringer from within.
Now they're in weekly dogfights and losing to less-talented teams with first-year head coaches. They were utterly anemic against Oklahoma State and just suffered an embarrassing home loss to an unranked UCLA team. Before that, his game-management arrogance against Washington single-handedly cost Oregon a winnable game in 2023.
People were drunk on the team Mario built and then used it to critique him while crowning his successor.
More importantly, Mario left Oregon with a significantly better culture than Manny left at Miami. I don't think people really understand how bad things were inside that buildingThis is a statement some of you guys like to make and it’s not reflective of what actually happened and @Rellyrell has provided the information previously.
It’s true, Mario left Oregon with a better roster than Manny left at Miami, however, Lanning flipped Mario’s roster quickly and at a large clip… I think 40% in year 1 - actually more than Mario flipped at miami in year one but Relly can confirm if that’s correct.
The premise that Lanning was only successful initially at Oregon because of Mario’s roster is not supported by the makeup of the Oregon roster during those times.
Manny left a horrid situation culturally and the players left who remained at Oregon were better as a baseline than what remained at Miami after the 1st year roster flips at each school.More importantly, Mario left Oregon with a significantly better culture than Manny left at Miami. I don't think people really understand how bad things were inside that building
Manny left a horrid situation culturally and the players left who remained at Oregon were better as a baseline than what remained at Miami after the 1st year roster flips at each school.
More importantly, Mario left Oregon with a significantly better culture than Manny left at Miami. I don't think people really understand how bad things were inside that building
I didnt post in this thread because it was premature to make an overall case either way, and I still believe that to be the case today. Mario has taken the clear lead in terms of trajectory and Lanning is hit some serious bumps in the road but Id say this one is hardly settled. Now in terms of Mario, I was extremely frustrated on how things went and was very vocal about it and now Im seeing way too many posts about how it was all about trusting some sort of process. I beg to differ, Mario kept certain tenents of his process but in general it broke down and to his credit he adjusted and even broke some dogmatic like tendencies. The transfer portal allowed him to get it right at the last moment along with a home run hire at DC, his 3rd in 4 years.I'm so glad I somehow held off from posting in this thread back in 2024. If this was originally started in 2023, I definitely would be getting bumped (insert Lanning coke bump pun).
There was always talent on those Golden/Manny teams. Maybe we didn’t have the national championship-caliber roster we have now, but we always had more than enough talent to make it to Charlotte. We just had a toxic culture paired with terrible coachingTrumpyCane mentioned this a few times but its not a coincidence the less Manny players we had on the team, the better the record has gotten every year
Lol the MarioBro bully slurpers treat eating crow like the movie 50 First Dates.Even someone as level headed as myself had a few outbursts when I saw Mario make some questionable calls. Fortunately, I kept them to private conversations, lest some self-righteous Mario glazer try to throw them in my face later on.
Anyone who says they always knew is chock full of ****.
I guess the MarioBros wanna keep doing what they did notwithstanding the number of people quoted there who’ve owned up to a number of things relating to Mario, however, some of these MarioBro guys act like it was all good from day 1. It wasn’t. Mario turned over two staffs to some degree because of bad hires. He got it right after that. But ok, keep on![]()
There was always talent on those Golden/Manny teams. Maybe we didn’t have the national championship-caliber roster we have now, but we always had more than enough talent to make it to Charlotte. We just had a toxic culture paired with terrible coaching
Like there's a prize for being first on the bandwagon.Lol the MarioBro bully slurpers treat eating crow like the movie 50 First Dates.
So let me get this straight. Dude takes Lanning over Mario every day of the week, but also wants him to do the things Mario does?
You calling it “alien” and happy to see someone put so much “thought & reason” into a post that was just someone copying another person’s poRst, prompting AI with “argue against this point and say Mario is better,” and then pasting the AI’s response as if it were their own thoughts...You might as well be speaking an alien language with this level of thought & consideration. Especially in 2026, on the topic of sports, no less. Most posts onthis boardthe internet are emotional outbursts framed as opinion.
The bolded should be enough to end this argument showing the problem of overreacting to a micro issue in a macro scenario. But it won't. It wasn't, just based off a response I just saw. I'm glad you got the energy for this because I can't really be bothered.
Just happy to see someone willing to put as much thought & reason into their post as you have in this thread.

You notice that MSTU thread never gets bumpedWho are the slurpers who typically look to ignite trouble and are guilty of Fifty 1st Dates of Mario Crow??? I want names, I know some, but I’m going to start a gif series in their honor