Clark Lea, Vanderbilt Commodores agree to contract extension

There are plenty of experts who expect the 2025 coaching carousel to be among the most chaotic in recent memory. However, it looks like one team that won’t be participating in it is going to be the Vanderbilt Commodores, as they’ve signed head coach Clark Lea to a new contract extension, per On3’s Pete Nakos.

The move was likely a prudent one, too. As Vanderbilt has had more and more success on the field, there has been growing rumors that other programs may be interested in Lea. This will keep him in Nashville.

Lea is a Vanderbilt graduate who came back to the program in 2021, coming over from Notre Dame, where he had been the defensive coordinator. Since then, he’s gone about building up the program and modernizing it with changes in the college sports landscape. That has been a slow build at times, but the team’s recent success can’t be ignored, and Vanderbilt is now rewarding him with a new contract.

Over the course of his time at Vanderbilt, Lea has a record of 25-35 overall and 12-29 in SEC play. On the surface, it’s not a great record, but the context for the job Lea has done is important. In 2024, he took Vanderbilt to its first bowl game since 2018. The Commodores’ back-to-back seven-win seasons are the best Vanderbilt has had since 2013. In fact, they have only gone to bowls in back-to-back years two other times in program history. Both cases were under James Franklin.

In the process, Lea has breathed life into the Vanderbilt program. Fans have been filling FirstBank Stadium in a way that is uncommon for the Commodores, pulling off some of the biggest upsets in program history, and has been an integral figure in several facilities renovations for the program. Building the program up is something that Lea recently spoke passionately about too.

“So, the timing of that had to do with the initial blueprint for what the program was going to be, the need for us to pivot. Then to find resources because that engine wasn’t inevitable here. It was something that we had to work to do, as well as build the partnerships on campus,” Lea previously said.

“What we did in foundation when you ask about the culture, it’s a belief of mine that with all the suffering and sacrifice that is involved in building a football program, this is kind of in its foundation a human endeavor. So, human connection is so important. This has been true for me as a coach for my entire career, and while we weren’t participating in portal or NIL our first few years here, our transaction was human connection. We spent time on the relationship and calling guys into a level of sacrifice for one another.”

With Clark Lea’s contract now in the rearview mirror, Vanderbilt can focus on the task at hand. That’s trying to win out and make their case to go to the College Football Playoff. While still on the table, it’s an opportunity that could slip away from the Commodores with another loss this season.