Nashville, TENN--Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea had the itch.

Lea didn't just want to be the CEO. He wanted to teach, he wanted to build relationships, he wanted a new challenge and he wanted to have his fingerprints all over his program as it enters a pivotal year four.

As a result, Lea took a step of responsibility and familiarity; one that will allow his defense to live and die by his design like it did throughout his time as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator as he takes on that role at Vanderbilt in addition to the duties he already held.

That step has been embraced by the fourth-year head coach.

"Feeling like I have direct responsibilities over the play and the performance on the field, building trust with players through teaching them and helping them to play the game at a higher level. All those things are energizing to me," Lea said at SEC Media Days.

That transition has ramped up the workload for the Vanderbilt head coach and defensive coordinator significantly.

It's involved him sitting in positional meetings, investing in individual players and oftentimes not having a second to breathe.

"There's no minute in the day where I'm not doing something, that's just the nature of the beast now," Lea said of the effect of his new role as defensive coordinator. "There's no rest for the weary. I'm just grinding the entire day, but that's what I love to do."

That's been apparent to Lea's players.

"We interact with him everyday," sophomore linebacker Bryan Longwell said of Lea. "He's so interactive with us. We have meetings with him, he's our DC. He's not like off being head coach also, it feels like he's our DC. When he's there, he's there with us."

For Lea to be present in that way, he's had to come to the realization that he can't do everything by himself the way he could in the past.

That realization has been evidenced by the hires of former New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill, handing over the reins to his offense to offensive coordinator Tim Beck and allowing associate defensive coordinator Steve Gregory to take over some of his day-to-day responsibilities.

"I've gotta lean on our staff, support staff and lean on our coaches to handle things that maybe I would've handled when I was just being the head coach," Lea said. "I've gotta be great at delegation and making sure that guys can take ownership over aspects of their role that will move us forward."

What Lea hasn't delegated is the structure of his defense and development of his players.

The former Notre Dame defensive coordinator has taken control of the operation in that way.

Vanderbilt safety CJ Taylor, who moved from linebacker this offseason, was convicted that Lea's adding control was the right move.

"I trust him with my football career," Taylor said while representing Vanderbilt at SEC Media Days. "Whenever he told the team that he was taking over as DC, that was all I needed to hear. Obviously I'm changing to a traditional safety position. So when those two things checked off, I was all hands on deck."

Taylor's convictions have seemingly spread to his teammates throughout the early portion of fall camp.

"I feel like the defense is more tightened up," veteran safety Marlen Sewell said. "I feel like it's cleaner, more precise. I feel like he's getting down to detail. That's what I like: he's a calm coach but he gets aggressive when he needs to be."

It feels as if the look of a cleaner defense and increased effort are themes in the eyes of Lea's players when they refer to what they've seen this fall.

Without those two things Vanderbilt likely doesn't have a chance. That was evident in 2023 as the Commodores sat at the bottom of the SEC in nearly every defensive metric.

"He's really detailed it down and tightened up our structure into something that's awesome to play for," Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson said. "He puts emphasis on effort and he always says it's 50 percent what you do, 50 percent how you do it. I say it's 51 percent how you do it, 49 percent what you do."

The new way of doing things and challenge has refreshed Vanderbilt's head coach despite an increased workload.

"I have loved that transition, it's reinvigorated me," Lea said in the spring. "I'm on fire to improve this program. I'm on fire to improve the on-field performance and the way we play football."

That's also a result of the 42-year old finding youth again in the day-to-day operation that comes with his intrapersonal relationships.

"I think specifically it's speaking to just being able to reconnect with the passion I have for teaching and coaching. I'm a teacher first, competitor second."