Vanderbilt AD Candice Lee: 'Clark Lea is our football coach until I say otherwise'

Athletic director Candice Lee expects Clark Lea to return as Vanderbilt football coach for 2024, she told The Tennessean in an interview Thursday.

"Clark Lea is our football coach until I say otherwise, and I am excited for he and I to continue working together to get this program where we expect it to be," Lee said. "Yes, I expect Clark Lea to be back next season."

Lee said there are things that need to get fixed with the football program, which sits at 2-9 and 0-7 in the SEC heading into a matchup with Tennessee on Nov. 25, but declined to elaborate on specifics of what needed to change.

Under Lea, the Commodores have improved their recruiting, but after a 5-7 season in 2022, Vanderbilt has greatly regressed in 2023 and is on track to finish no better than Lea's 2-10 first season in 2021.

"I would say that my expectation always is that we are progressing as a program and so I'm happy that Clark Lea is our coach," Lee said. "He has my full support. We are always together in partnership you know; everything we do is a partnership. ... And so he and I together want to see this program progress. And we're always evaluating, and so that's not new. And so that evaluation continues."

Lee said the ultimate goal for the football program is to "win and have sustainable success." But success, she said, isn't always linear.

"There have been some things that I think we clearly have to get better at," Lee said. "There have been some things that I think have been positives. ... We've got to get better, though, and we know we want the product on the field to reflect our vision. And when you're building, that doesn't happen overnight. So we're taking the steps necessary to get to that point."

MAILBAG:Vanderbilt mailbag: We answer your questions about future for football, basketball, baseball

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

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