For fourth-year Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, working every day to bring Vanderbilt back to respectability is not easy. He doesn’t let that get in the way of his mission, though. He’s at Vanderbilt because he loves what it gave to him personally and the potential he believes this program has. Lea is energized and invigorated to keep swinging and get it right, despite the challenges of coaching in the SEC.
He recently joined Ryan McGee and Marty Smith for their annual “Talkin’ Season” special on the SEC Network.
Coaching in the highly competitive SEC comes with immense pressure to perform, and leaders must adapt to the program's needs. Coach Lea shared his personal evolution as a leader, from wanting to be the savior of Vanderbilt Football to learning that success and winning are the program's North Star. He also provides a nuanced perspective on going through a challenging season, emphasizing the importance of adapting to the program's needs.
Here’s how that conversation went.
Marty Smith: In what ways have you evolved the most?
“I was laughing about the conversation a year ago, and just talking about, what it means to achieve at Vanderbilt, and not wanting to stop at progress, right? There's got to be a point at which there's a line that's crossed for us, and then going through a painful year where you learn a lot about where you're falling short. When you talk about evolving as a leader, you can look at so many different things. For me personally, learning that not everyone's meant for the mission, learning that you can't pick and choose the parts that you experience. It's the full catastrophe. You know, there are highs and there are lows, and all of them make it special, right? The feeling of pain and the feeling of joy both mean it's important to you and it's significant for me. As I look at the program we're building, and step back and say, what did I miss in year two to year three that I know more about now because of the experience? Last year was an important teacher for me. To learn, but to also understand that our North Star is success, and our North Star is winning. When you learn something about where you need to grow and adapt, you execute it, and that gets you closer to the program you want to build. That's what we've done. Early on, it was all ego. I wanted it to happen immediately. Here is Clark Lee, the savior of Vanderbilt football. It's never going to be that way. What I can do is focus on the work that needs to be done. What I can do is do the next right thing the right way. In that sense, whether it's a good day or bad day, or somewhere in between, you're just constantly moving forward to what you want the finished product to be.”
Ryan McGee: When you are in the middle of a season like last year, and when it is not going the way you want it to go, and week after week, it's continuing to do that, what is the coach's role at that point? Is it holding it together? Is it trying to find improvement? And it would feel like there isn't any What's the biggest role for you in that scenario?
“You're for sure trying to hold it together. You’re paying attention to all the little interactions. I think it's harder when it's not going well than when it is. I'm personally frustrated that I wasn't able to do enough last year to get it back on the rails. I think part of a head coach's challenge is to make changes and adjustments so the team strengthens in performance as the year goes on. We didn't do that. It's an interesting experience because it all ultimately comes down to you, and you feel the strain and the burden of that. You just want to do the right things to help all the people around you become successful.”
Marty Smith: It's a merciless league. It just is. Top to bottom all the way through. Now 16 teams, you're adding two more opponents that are good brands. How do you even describe what it's like to go through this thing?
“Well, on a like, on a granular level, the week-in, week-out grind of the season can't be experienced anywhere else. We play against teams that have the best players in the country lining up in the best arenas in the world. As a competitor, it's everything that you sign up for, but it is an experience that way. Getting Vanderbilt upright and moving in the right direction in the most challenging conference in the country is exactly what I signed up for. It fits my competitive DNA to want to do something at a place that I love and care about and that's important to me. I love Vanderbilt. I love what it did for me in my life. I believe in these places that deliver holistic development to young people and how important they are in shaping the world moving forward, those are important aspects of me. I want to do it at the highest possible level, and that's what the SEC is. You can't want for those things and then shutter when it's not quite as easy as you expected. Is it challenging? Yes. Is it great and exciting? Yes. Am I energized and invigorated to keep swinging and to get it right? Yes. That's kind of what gets me up and gets me going every morning.
