Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea reportedly interviewed with another SEC program before signing extension with the Commodores
The Vanderbilt Commodores reportedly signed head coach Clark Lea to a six year contract extension on Friday.
A day before taking on the Tennessee Vols in Knoxville, the Vanderbilt Commodores wisely locked up head coach Clark Lea by signing him to a six-year contract extension.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news on Friday morning.
According to Thamel, Vanderbilt is giving Lea a “significant salary increase” as well as additional resources for coaching staff moves and facilities.
The news comes a few days after Lea went on Outkick’s Hot Mic and discussed why he hadn’t signed his extension yet.
Clark Lea reportedly interviewed with another SEC program before signing extension with Vanderbilt
According to On3’s Chris Low, Lea interviewed with the Florida Gators before signing his extension with Vanderbilt.
I don’t know if Lea ever seriously considered leaving Vanderbilt — he’s a Nashville native who played for the Commodores, so it would likely take a LOT to pull him away from Vandy. But it seems clear that he smartly used the craziness of the coaching carousel to iron out some things with Vanderbilt.
“Anything that I’m looking for is about sustainability in this program,” said Lea during the appearance on Hot Mic. “I’ve not been shy to talk about what my goals are — and that’s championship-level play. And it’s not one season of it. It’s this ability to have Vanderbilt football say, ‘The championship runs through Nashville.’ And we can do that.
“But there are certain specific things that we have to be doing now to level up to ensure that over time we can continue to have this level of excitement around our program. And those are the points of focus.”
“It’s about how we enhance the environment [and] enhance the experience of our players,” continued Lea. “Obviously, the long-term vision for facilities is important, too. But we can’t just punt progress to three years. These kids need to feel the fruits of the investment they put in. They need to know that this place is changing as they put the work in and have gotten the results. And so all that’s a part of the conversations — retaining staff, retaining [players] — it’s all really important to the long-term sustainability of our program. And that’s what makes this moment so important.
“The tension of not having it done can be uncomfortable. But also, it’s very important right now that we get everything aligned on where this needs to go. And so that’s what we’re doing.”
Vanderbilt was wise to get this deal done with Lea before the end of the regular season. As the coaching pool shrinks, interest in Lea would have only intensified if this deal hadn’t been finalized.
Lea can now shift his full focus to Vanderbilt’s matchup with Tennessee on Saturday in Knoxville.
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