Clark Lea realized he had to make some serious changes to give his Vanderbilt Commodores a chance to compete in a bigger and even tougher Southeastern Conference . The coach going into his fourth season put his alma mater through a makeover. He admitted the program had fallen behind when it came to the transfer portal and help for athletes eager to cash in with endorsement deals.
“I’m proud of efforts we made to position our program to get back on track,” Lea said. Lea didn't have much choice after Vanderbilt went 2-10 for the second time in his tenure. He holds a 9-27 record after leaving his job as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame for the chance to revive the program he grew up supporting before playing for the Commodores.
He has taken charge of the defense, put his roster through a serious revamp and brought in a new offensive coordinator along with some other new coaches for his staff. The challenge is Vanderbilt hasn't posted a winning record since going 9-4 in 2013 when James Franklin left for Penn State. Lea has 53 new players on the roster and 120 total.
That's up from 98 when he coached his first season in 2021 with 106 of these Commodores specifically recruited to play here. Lea started out trying to find players who could be developed for long-term success, then the college landscape changed. “Our challenge now is to uphold our righteous standards while embracing a more short-term strategy of winning football,” Lea said.
“This is the reality of our g.