Clark Lea confirms Garrett Altman is leaving Vanderbilt for Arkansas State OC job

As many are this time of year, Vanderbilt is dealing with coaching turnover around its bowl game. Quarterbacks coach Garrett Altman will leave Nashville to take the Arkansas State offensive coordinator job. While the news had only been broken through the media to this point, Commodores head coach Clark Lea confirmed reports in his latest press conference.

“He is here and he is going to be the offensive coordinator at Arkansas State,” Lea said. “I’m so thrilled for him. Part of my role is — you hire people, you recruit people, you see them grow up, and then they leave. Those can be sad things but they’re really happy things. I’m so happy for Garrett. I’m appreciative and grateful for the work he’s put in the past two years into this program. I’m excited to watch him go and ascend. I’m sure that big things are ahead.”

Altman joined Vanderbilt at the beginning of the 2024 season. Few names in college football were bigger the past couple of years than the quarterback he worked with, Diego Pavia. Alongside OC Tim Beck, Altman helped turn Pavia into an award-winning player and Heisman Trophy finalist.

While Altman will spend 2026 in Jonesboro, he will spend the final days of 2025 still with Vanderbilt. Lea says Altman will still coach the team in Wednesday’s bowl game vs. Iowa, something he is appreciative of.

“I just told him to do what’s best for him,” Lea said. “Operationally, we’re going to be fine, no matter what. If it made sense for him to be here and to be a part of this, I would want him to be a part of it. I wanted that to be good for him, he’s got a big job ahead of him too. That’s going to take a lot of energy and unfortunately, the calendar doesn’t wait. December becomes January, then becomes portal time. There’s a lot to do from now to then. I appreciated the fact that he wants to be here, I appreciate the fact that he’s here with us. We’ll enjoy having him a part of this program one last time too.”

Arkansas State had Keith Heckendorf in the program as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for seven seasons. However, he recently accepted the Iowa State OC job for a jump into the power conference ranks. Altman now gets his first opportunity to be an offensive coordinator after great work at Vanderbilt.