Vin Lananna (2026) - Hall of Fame - University of Oregon Athletics

Vin Lananna

Induction:
2026

Vin Lananna won six NCAA titles and 13 conference titles during his tenure as associate athletic director and head coach of Oregon’s storied track and field programs. It was during his time at Oregon that Lananna founded TrackTown USA, Inc., a nonprofit organization that anchored Eugene’s resurgence as the epicenter of track and field in the United States with NCAA Championships, U.S. Olympic Trials and national and international meets returning to Historic Hayward Field for the first time in decades. Two years after he was hired, Lananna led the Ducks to back-to-back NCAA men’s cross country titles in 2007 and 2008, the program’s first since 1977. Lananna delivered Oregon’s first men’s indoor track and field national title in 2009 and did the same on the women’s side in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Oregon’s dominance at the conference level was even more prolific. Lananna oversaw six consecutive conference titles in men’s track and field between 2007-12, four straight league championships for the women’s team from 2009-12 and three straight Pac-10 men’s cross country crowns in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Lananna was recognized as the USTFCCCA national men’s cross country coach of the year in 2007 and 2008. He was also recognized three times as the Pac-12’s men’s and women’s track and field coach of the year. While leading the Men and Women of Oregon, Lananna coached 38 NCAA champions and 75 individual conference champions. Among them: six-time NCAA champion Galen Rupp, five-time NCAA multi-event winners Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen and three-time national champions Andrew Wheating, Matthew Centrowitz and Tommy Skipper. He stepped away from his coaching duties following the 2012 season to burnish Eugene’s status in the national and international track communities. Lananna was the driving force behind the University’s successful bids to host the 2008, 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, the 2009, 2011 and 2015 USATF Outdoor Championships and NCAA Championship meets in 2010 and 2013-18.