The Oregon Ducks are reportedly set to hire Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as their next head coach.

Lanning will replace Mario Cristobal, who left the Ducks earlier this week to take the Miami job.

The new Oregon head coach spent two years at Arizona State before landing in the SEC, first as a graduate assistant at Alabama and then later at Georgia as a defensive assistant under Kirby Smart.

Lanning wasn't the only SEC coach interested in the Oregon job.

Two SEC head coaches, in fact, were reportedly interested in taking over for Cristobal.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was interested in the job according to Oregon insider John Canzano (probably the most "plugged in" member of the Oregon media).

The Ducks, however, weren't interested in Kiffin.

John Canzano, on radio, on the Oregon Ducks coach search:

-Justin Wilcox attractive to Ducks for being an Oregon man
-Lane Kiffin interested, Oregon isn't
-Chip Kelly UCLA buyout a problem
-Kalani Sitake had a bad interview
-Bryan Harsin possible
-Still hunting one big candidate

— Avinash Kunnath (@avinashkunnath) December 9, 2021

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin, who was previously the head coach at Boise State, badly wanted the job according to 247Sports Ducks reporter Matt Prehm.

From 247Sports:

There is a lot of smoke right now around Bryan Harsin of Auburn. We listed him on the Hot Board when the search was started and we stated he wanted the job bad. That remains the same on Friday. He's very interested in the job and getting back to the Pacific Northwest.

Lanning, who is only 35, helped engineer the nation's best defense in 2021. It's still surprising, though, that Oregon is going with a first-time head coach in Lanning over more established coaches like Kiffin and Harsin.

Kiffin led Ole Miss to 10 wins this season, while Harsin struggled at times but nearly led Auburn to a win against Alabama in the regular-season finale.

Featured image via Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK