There is no doubt that Oregon Ducks Athletics has been among the top college sports players for over a decade, especially in elite sports in Eugene.

Of course, the track and field and cross country teams have combined to win 17 national titles since 2010. Football, volleyball, men’s golf and women’s golf have all won national championships. Both basketball programs have reached the Final Four. Softball has reached the Women’s College World Series five times.

“Oregon is a brand.”

– Oregon Ducks Football coach Dan Lanning

And conference championships? Football has four, women’s basketball five, men’s basketball eight, and softball five. Track and field and cross country have a combined 26!

All of this has happened during her time as athletic director under Rob Mullens, something Oregon women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves noted earlier this year.

“Rob is a great leader,” Graves said. “He’s given us everything we need to be successful.”

In a recently published interview with the Big Ten Network, Ducks football coach Dan Lanning was asked directly about “The Decade of the Duck.”

“Oregon is a brand,” Lanning said. “When I think about the school, I think about innovation. I think about how they’re leading the way. It’s fun to be a part of a place that’s been so forward-thinking and has had so much success.”

Lanning says the brand and its success have helped his program recruit nationwide in a way never before seen, especially as conferences now stretch coast to coast.

“We’re widespread from a recruiting standpoint,” Lanning said. “We go coast to coast, especially now that we’re in the Big Ten. Because we can reach every time zone, it’s great to have a brand that actually goes from city to city and state to state and means something globally.”

Now in the new world of super conferences, changing NIL laws and the transfer portal, will Oregon continue to lead the way in success? If the last decade or so, and especially the last few years, has shown anything, it’s that Oregon is here to stay as a power.

“Decade of the Duck”? Leadership at UO makes everything in the future seem like it’s being guided by flippers.