Michael DeMane out as CEO of Lanx Inc. Was he ever really in?

Well, that was quick.

In a bizarre twist, Lanx Inc., an orthopedics startup in Colorado, said that former Medtronic chief operating officer Michael DeMane is no longer its CEO and chairman, less than a month after naming him to those positions.

“Michael DeMane has declined to assume the role of chairman and chief executive officer and will assist the company as a consultant,” the company said in a terse statement.

As I see it, there are only two possibilities: Either DeMane just pulled a reverse Brett Favre, or Lanx jumped the gun a bit.

I vote for the latter. Here’s why:

When I first wrote about DeMane getting the Lanx job, I contacted Peter McNerney, a partner at Thomas McNerney & Partners, a Minneapolis venture capital firm DeMane has been advising. McNerney seemed surprised.

“I know that Michael has been looking seriously at a few opportunities, including one in Colorado, but nothing has been finalized yet to my knowledge,” McNerney wrote in an e-mail.

After I sent McNerney the Lanx press release, he sent this reply:

“I think that announcement may have been a bit premature, but in any case you should check with Michael,” McNerney wrote.

You can’t blame anyone for assuming it was a done deal. At the time, Lanx sent out a press release that even included a quote from DeMane:

“Lanx has established considerable momentum based on an impressive product portfolio and pipeline,” DeMane said. Founders “Michael Fulton, Jeffrey Thramann and their team have built a company with a responsive, solutions-oriented culture, while maintaining a high level of ethics and integrity. We expect to continue our commitment to those values in our mission to build a world-class spine company over the long-term.”

Apparently, Lanx did everything except check whether DeMane actually wanted the job.

Oops.