Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning is tremendous at what he does. He’s established himself as one of the top coaches in college football while routinely fielding some of the best recruiting classes during his tenure with the Ducks.
He’s also been outspoken on social issues.
Following the Ducks‘ Week 3 contest at Northwestern, Lanning condemned gun violence and evil in the world after the shooting of Charlie Kirk earlier that week.
After Oregon’s 42-13 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday, Lanning made sure to recognize and honor John Beam, a former Laney College football head coach who lost his life after being shot on Thursday.
“Just want to take the time to send our condolences to Coach Beam and his family,” he said during his postgame press conference. “You know, it’s really sad when you see somebody made such an impact on people lose his life. I know we don’t have all the details, but you know this: that guy made an unbelievable impact on a lot of people and a lot of our coaches, our staff and our players recognize the impact that he made and remember him and will always remember him fondly. Hate to see him go and really feeling for his family at this time.”
Beam first joined the Laney College (a junior college located in Oakland, CA) coaching staff in 2004 as a running backs coach before being named the head coach in 2012. He won two league titles, with at least 20 of his players going on to play in the NFL, per the school’s website. He retired from coaching in 2024 but stayed on as the athletic director, the role he was currently serving in.
Laney College was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” in which viewers were shown the compassion that Beam displayed to his players, many of whom came from difficult backgrounds. On screen, he was an old-school, no-nonsense coach — mixed with countless instances in which Beam told his players that he loved them and helped them out in any way that he could.
His death shocked the Oakland community, where he’d become a beloved figure in the city for his work with the Laney football program. Beam was 66.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning offers condolences to late Laney College coach John Beam
