As the college sports landscape rapidly changes, so is Vanderbilt. They might be playing catch up, but the effort to stabilize their programs and improve their standing in the SEC is there.

In the latest episode of Football Saturday with former Vanderbilt tailback Doug Mathews on 104.5 The Zone, Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee discussed the state of the NCAA, the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, and the evolution of the athletic department on West End.

Here are the most important questions she was asked to answer:

How has the athletic director role changed over the years?

“The role of the athletic director has evolved quite a bit. You have to be able to understand different constituency groups. The business acumen that it takes to do this job is different. The way you spend your time is different. I am evolving as well. Every athletic director will tell you that you must develop and refine even more skills as things change.”

How has being a student-athlete at Vanderbilt helped you in this role?

“I am so grateful to have been a student-athlete because, at the core of what we’re doing, we’re serving student-athletes. I don’t pretend to necessarily always understand our student-athletes, right, they’re young and are growing, but the chance to support them and to know what it’s like to be in their shoes, I do think it helps.”

From your perspective, what have you seen from NCAA President Charlie Baker?

“It was a significant message that was being sent when the board of directors determined that the next NCAA President needed to be someone with a political background. When you look at his predecessors, they were university presidents. One of the things that the NCAA gets attacked on often is that perhaps they don’t understand what’s happening on campus day to day. It’s clear that the NCAA, just like all of our athletic departments, status quo is not going to cut it. I do think there was a very important message sent when you put a politician in that role. I think he understands that it’s time for a new narrative and fresh perspective.”

How would you describe the state of college athletics?

“Everything that we’re doing right now has a business focus or a legal focus. Right now, college athletics is under attack. We cannot get to where we need to go by doing what we used to do. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.”

How could the House Settlement shift college athletics to a more equitable model?

“What we are all in search of is some stability and some clarity about the future. The last one to two years has probably been the most volatile in the history of college athletics. While volatility happens in systems, that certainly cannot be a way of life if we’re going to be effective in what we’re trying to do.”

“We anticipate that there will be a new model for new model dictated by the house settlement effective next fall. It’s transformational to what we know today for college athletics. We had to have a transformation to try to create some stability.”

What opportunities does revenue sharing present?

“What the house settlement permits is to take the autonomy conferences and take the revenue that is brought in based on media rights, tickets, and sponsorships and come up with an average number across those conferences. Then, 22% of that number becomes the cap that schools can revenue share up to.”

“If the house settlement is approved, then scholarship limits would go away. Right now, we’re operating under NCAA-dictated scholarship limits across all sports, so each sport has its limit. There will be roster limits, but no scholarship limits. Each institution could determine how many scholarships they’re going to offer within each sport.”

In what ways can Texas and Oklahoma improve the standing of the SEC?

“I’ve always felt that the SEC was the premier conference across all sports. The addition of Oklahoma and Texas simply amplifies that. I am thankful that they’re in the league because I think those are two competitive, big brands, great institutions. It just makes the best conference even better. This is where I remind everybody that we are charter members of the SEC and you want to be among the best. This is just icing on the cake from my perspective.”

How have the facility upgrades helped to improve Vanderbilt’s standing in the SEC?

“When I think of my tenure to date, I think of it in segments.”

Chapter 1:

“The previous four years have been about stability. As an athletics department, we have been through a lot. There was a gap that needed to be closed. Not that it is closed, but there was a lot of work to be done to get us on that journey towards operating like charter members of the SEC. Starting a facilities project was important to signal investment in the student-athletes and our fans.”

Chapter 2:

“This reset that’s getting ready to happen due to external factors is about positioning us for the future and making sure that Vanderbilt Athletics is ready to be successful in a new model.”

“Don’t get me wrong, we still have work to do in chapter two, but I would look at the prior four years as trying to play catch up in some ways, while also trying to stabilize things, and change the public discourse around how people talk about Vanderbilt.”

Are you getting the support that you need from the administration? In the past, that’s been a problem.

“The administration at Vanderbilt starts with our board of trust and then our Chancellor Daniel Diermeier. In my role as Vice Chancellor of Athletics and University Affairs (Athletic Director), I have a whole set of other Vice Chancellors who also make up central administration at the University. Each of them has been tremendously supportive of what we’re doing in athletics.”

“Daniel Diermeier has made it very clear from the beginning that Vanderbilt should be world-renowned as the great institution of the 21st century. To have that, you must have a strong athletics department.”

Would you rather have nice facilities or a little bit more NIL money?

“Perhaps, there was a time when decisions were made off on who had the shiniest facility, the waterfall, the lazy river, and all of the things that some people may call excessive. Young people make decisions for certain reasons. What I know, is that we better make sure we have sufficient facilities to support what we need to do.”

“NIL becomes a critically important part of the recruitment process. You’re talking about a world-class institution in the best conference in the country, in the hottest city in the country, with incredible resources, and with a past that it needs to shed in some ways. We also have NIL. We come to the table showing that we’re credible with all of the things that differentiate Vanderbilt.”

“I think our problem in the past was that we wanted to just rely on the things that we thought were special about Vanderbilt and not doing enough to show that we are credible in the athletics world. You can do both.”