Entering Orange Bowl, Texas Tech and Oregon coaches remembering their roots

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Oregon's Dan Lanning and Texas Tech's Joey McGuire are not forgetting where they came from.

Long before they became big-time coaches making big-time salaries at big-time programs — Lanning and the Ducks will face off with McGuire and the Red Raiders in Thursday's College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Orange Bowl — they were both high school coaches, just trying to do right by the kids on their teams.

Their worlds have changed. Their approaches have not. Both have guided their teams to 12-1 records this season entering the Orange Bowl. Thurday's winner moves on to the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9 for a CFP semifinal against either No. 1 Indiana or No. 9 Alabama.

“No matter if it’s a 22-year-old or it’s a 16-year-old that you’re coaching, they’re all the same,” McGuire said. “They’re playing a kid’s game that they absolutely love, and they want to do great things. I just try to help them do that.”

McGuire spent more than 20 years coaching high school ball in talent-rich Texas, before starting his college path as an assistant at Baylor in 2017. He's been the head coach at Texas Tech since 2022.

Lanning only worked at the high school level for three years before making the jump to college coaching — and had the likes of legendary and now-retired Alabama coach Nick Saban, Georgia coach Kirby Smart and Florida State coach Mike Norvell as mentors along the way.

But he has clear respect for McGuire's path.

“Joey’s an outstanding coach,” Lanning said. “I always have an appreciation for a guy that’s worked his way up through the ranks. ... I think the players take on the temperament of you as a coach. And he’s a guy that brings the juice and you see that with his team. His team plays like that, plays like their hair is on fire.”

Oregon: The Ducks are scheduled to open the 2026 season at home against Boise State on Sept. 5.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are scheduled to open the 2026 season at home against Abilene Christian on Sept. 5.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, left, and Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pose with the Orange Bowl trophy at a press conference ahead of the Orange Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Dania Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning listens during a press conference ahead of an Orange Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Texas Tech, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Dania Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire speaks at a press conference ahead of an Orange Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Oregon, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Dania Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, right, and Oregon head coach Dan Lanning participate in a press conference ahead of the Orange Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Dania Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured, most of them seriously, following a fire at a bar in a Swiss Alps resort town during a New Year’s celebration, police said Thursday.

“Several tens of people” were killed at the bar, Le Constellation, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference.

Work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families but “that will take time and for the time being it is premature to give you a more precise figure," Gisler said, adding that community is “devastated.”

Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.

“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

Officials called the blaze an “embrasement généralisé,” a firefighting term describing how a blaze can trigger the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently and cause what English-speaking firefighters would call a flashover or a backdraft.

“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Rénard, head of the regional government.

The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Rénard said.

Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene to assist victims, including some from different countries, officials said.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said in a social media post that the government’s “thoughts go to the victims, to the injured and their relatives, to whom it addresses its sincere condolences.”

Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office as president as the seven members of Switzerland’s government take turns holding the presidency for one year. Out of respect for the families of the victims, he delayed a traditional New Year address to the nation meant to be broadcast Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.

A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

With high-altitude ski runs at around 3,000 meters (1.86 miles) in the heart of the Swiss Alps, Crans-Montana is one of the winter sports centers of Switzerland’s ski-crazy Valais region, also home to Zermatt, Verbier and other resorts nestled in the snowy peaks and pine forests drawing winter sports enthusiasts from across the planet. The resort is one of the top race venues on the World Cup circuit in Alpine skiing and will host the next world championships over two weeks in February 2027.

In four weeks’ time, the resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers for their last events before going to the Milan Cortina Olympics, which open Feb. 6.

Crans-Montana also is a premium venue in international golf. The Crans-sur-Sierre club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course with stunning mountains views. Le Constellation bar is about 250 meters (273 yards) down the street from the golf club.

Crans-Montana is less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Sierre, Switzerland, where 28 people including many children were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.

The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

From left, Mathias Reynard, State Councillor and president of the Council of State of the Canton of Valais, Stephane Ganzer, State Councillor and head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport of the Canton of Valais, Frederic Gisler, Commander of the Valais Cantonal Police, Beatrice Pilloud, Attorney General of the Canton of Valais and Nicole Bonvin-Clivaz, Vice-President of the Municipal Council of Crans-Montana during a press conference in Lens, following a fire that broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

A skier walks in the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

A banner stating that fireworks are prohibited due to the risk of fire is pictured near the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)