Dan Lanning was mentioned as an early potential candidate to replace Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M Sunday morning.

According to TexAgs’ Billy Liucci, the school is expected to part ways with Fisher as early as Sunday. The Aggies will reportedly pay close to $76 million to buy out the remainder of his contract. Fisher went 45-25 at Texas A&M, though he just helped A&M to a 51-10 win over Mississippi State on Saturday.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel then reported a list of potential names of interest in the upcoming A&M coaching search: Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Duke’s Mike Elko, Florida State (Mike Norvell), UTSA’s Jeff Traylor, Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, USC’s Kliff Kingsbury, Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, and Lanning.

Given Lanning’s history in the SEC footprint, it’s only natural he would be a popular name for a coach-needy SEC team. He was linked to Auburn last season for much the same reason.

But Lanning would require A&M to fork over even more cash to make a deal happen, and his recent comments would suggest he has no interest in leaving Eugene.

The 37-year-old Lanning agreed to a one-year contract extension earlier this year, tying him to Oregon through 2028 and giving him a significant bump in pay.

As part of that deal, Lanning agreed to a fixed $20 million buyout should he leave for another school. The buyout sits at $20 million for the duration of his deal. If another school wants to bring him in, it’ll have to pay to fire its coach and then pay Oregon a hefty price tag just to have the option to pay Lanning a truckload of money.

In any scenario, A&M would need to pay close to $100 million in buyouts alone to move from Fisher to Lanning.

Lanning has repeatedly said the grass is not greener elsewhere, and he has made a home in Eugene.

“It is not fair in college football, in my opinion, when a university makes a commitment to a coach but a coach doesn’t make a commitment to that university,” Lanning said before this season. “I want to be here. Believe or not believe whatever you want. There’s no secret. This is what I want.

“I’ve said before the grass isn’t always greener. Like, I have everything I want here. There’s a vision for this to continue to grow. We’re able to get elite players, I think that’s no secret. As long as we can continue to recruit at a high level, develop, and continue to have world-class facilities, continue to push the bar in everything that we do, everything’s here that’s necessary for us to be successful.”

The last two coaches to leave Oregon for supposedly better jobs have struggled. And with the Ducks moving to the Big Ten beginning in 2024, Lanning could decide Oregon — which is 9-1 this year and ranked No. 6 in the country — is the best job in front of him.