Nashville, TENN--Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea looks up and feels something as he stands on the turf at FirstBank Stadium.

Lea looks up at the north end zone with a sense of pride and stares down the south end zone with hopefulness. In a sense he celebrates.

"We’ve come a long way since the dust bowl and scoreboards on cranes," Lea said after Vanderbilt's first fall scrimmage, which was its first time in the stadium since its renovations. "It’s just exciting."

Lea often takes things with a grain of salt, but his body language gives away his feel here. The generally mellow and put together coach feels something here.

"Obviously we can stop and celebrate being part of the way in these moments where they get here."

That moment is defined by fresh turf, a beautiful view out of the north end zone and hope. Hope that a renovation can be more than that. That it can be a program-shifting development.

The reality check of where Lea's program currently is could hit quickly, though. Even if that comes the fourth-year head coach will continue to envision what it could be.

He knows that it won't come easily, but speaks confidently that it will happen in 2024.

"We’re finally gonna have an environment when this is all finished that I think will be unique but also I think it’s gonna be imposing," Lea said. "It’s about us putting a product on the field and it’s about a community getting inspired here around us to fill this stadium with black shirts and to make it a hard place to play. We can do that. I have ownership in that in terms of getting this team where it needs to be."

Lea has also taken ownership of what his stadium looks like and admits that was difficult with it being stripped down to its barest form in 2023.

"I was reflecting [Saturday] on just everything that we endured last season with respect to the dust bowl and the swinging scoreboard," Lea said. "We know that sacrifice is a part of progress and we’re doing everything we can. But, there were certain things about last season that were hard independent of just coming out and playing the game."

The days of the dust bowl and attention on the slow-moving nature of Vanderbilt's physical build are behind Lea and his program, that's something that is welcome.

"To be in the environment and start to feel what it’s gonna feel like, I can’t wait."