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What Clark Lea said about Candice Storey Lee at SEC Football Media Days

Vanderbilt Commodores On SI · Jul 22, 2026 20:45 · 4 min read

What Clark Lea Said About Candice Storey Lee at SEC Football Media Days — Vanderbilt Athletics Director Candice Storey Lee speaks during the topping out ceremony for the new right field facility at Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field Tuesday, June 16, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Commodores head coach was complimentary of what the school’s athletic director has done in her time in Nashville.

After Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea finished his opening statement harping on wanting to continue to build a winning program in Nashville and avoiding complacency, there was one other topic he felt like he could talk for hours about.

Lea was asked a two-part question shortly after his opening statement. The first part was about Alabama transfers Cole Adams and Micah DeBose. The second part was about Vanderbilt University Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee.

“I could take the rest of the time talking about Candice. She's the best of the best, and I hope that the world's paying attention to what she's doing because I think it's important,” Lea said of his athletic director during Tuesday’s SEC Media Days press conference.

Lea was quite complimentary of Storey Lee in his full response and for good reason. Storey Lee was named the Athletic Director of the Year for the 2025-26 academic year by the Sports Business Journal.

This past season was a historic season for Vanderbilt athletics as Vanderbilt football had its first 10-win season in program history, men’s basketball made it to the SEC Championship Game and the Round of the 32 in the NCAA Tournament, women’s basketball made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and soccer made it to the program’s first Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament during the 2025 season.

Perhaps what is more impressive is what Storey Lee was able to do for Vanderbilt coaches off the field. Under Storey Lee’s leadership, she extended four head coaches to contract extensions going back to the end of 2025: Clark Lea, men’s basketball head coach Mark Byington, women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph and soccer head coach Darren Ambrose.

Despite all of that, though, Lea and Vanderbilt still do not think Storey Lee gets enough credit for the job she has done.

“The thing that I can point to, first of all, she doesn't get enough recognition. You talk about someone who has been a part of Vanderbilt for a long time, and yet has the courage and vision to see the future as something different. She's locked in arms with Chancellor Diermeier. They're so aggressive in where they want to take this, and it's not just about football success. That vision and her leadership has unlocked potential in a lot of other programs, too,” Lea said at the podium.

It has not always been sunshine and rainbows during Storey Lee’s time as athletic director and during Lea’s time coaching Vanderbilt, though. Since Storey Lee was hired as athletic director in February 2020 and Lea was hired as Vanderbilt’s football coach in December 2020, the two have also experienced some deep valleys before the recent successes in the athletic department.

In Lea’s first season at Vanderbilt, the Commodores went 2-10 and before recording that same record during the 2023 season. While most programs and athletic directors would have been chomping at the bit to get the football coach fired after those types of seasons, Storey Lee did not. Instead, the two trusted the process and trusted the vision they set from the beginning.

“I can't express how supportive she was and how much of a partner she was in those hard moments,” Lea said. “She is so tough. I mean, here's someone who has overcome every odd and still has to fight down and beat down all these external labels that get placed on her. All she did in that tough moment was be at her best, and I'm grateful for that.”

Lea took advantage of the grace his athletic director gave him at the end of the 2023 season. After a 9-27 record his first three seasons, Vanderbilt is 17-9 over the last two seasons. The vision has produced fruit. While Lea and his coaching staff are proud of the progress they have made, he feels it would not be possible without Storey Lee.

“Independent of what this program has become because of that level of partnership and leadership, I'm grateful for the example she showed me of what that looks like,” Lea said.

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