Okay, here is what I’m thinking this morning.
It’ll be a small number of people who have input on the decision. I think that’ll be Daniel Diermeier, Tommy McClelland, John Ingram and Candice Lee. A source who is very familiar with what goes on over there believes that Candice Lee will probably have the least say in the decision, but, she will probably have a lot of weight in how the decision is framed.
Here’s what I mean: Candice Lee has been at Vanderbilt for 20 years, is in very tight with Kirkland Hall and knows the climate at Vanderbilt. What my source thinks—and I agree—is that they’re going to want someone mature who fits their image and isn’t going to go about ruffling feathers the way James Franklin did.
And I think this source nailed it.
Because every time I hear a coaching search, I hear “ right fit” mentioned time and time again.
And that’s the exact kind of language I’ve heard from Vanderbilt every time they have a search. It’s why people like Rob Mullens don’t even get a phone call when they’re begging for the AD job. I think that’s why Jamey Chadwell didn’t go further than he did even though he was begging for the job.
And Vanderbilt literally does not care what we think of this. Vanderbilt always believes its view of things is the right one and doesn't generally open itself up to questioning of that.
And so I think what Candice said about coaching candidates and what they’re looking for is meaningless. And I should have known better. Because they play to their audience, and they just got rid of a defensive coordinator who hadn’t been a head coach, and what she threw out there as “what we want” was the antithesis of what Derek Mason was. And if that’s what they really wanted, I think they had a golden opportunity with Jamey Chadwell.
And so with that, let’s look at things through that filter. And that filter includes things like “get along with others at the university,” “understanding the way we do things at Vanderbilt,” “understanding the demands that come with a private school because you worked at one,” “understanding the time and academic demands on players at a place like Vanderbilt,” “clean track record,” “win at a place that’s hard to win at” and so on. And I think having a refined, CEO-type presentation also matters a lot.
And so with that, who would fit?
To me, Clark Lea is the best fit for all the reasons we’ve been over. He checks all the boxes. And we know there’s interest both ways. He's not been a head coach but he's played at Vanderbilt. And I think Clark would play really well to the old-money crowd as they allegedly try to raise money for facilities.
And just to be clear, I say none of that disparagingly. I really like Clark and his family from what I've known of him. And he may genuinely be the best guy for the job.
Lance Leipold does not check all boxes but he’s definitely that CEO type. He’s won huge two places including Buffalo (tough place to win), wants the job badly and has had contact with VU. And he’s been a head coach, which Lea hasn’t.
I have not really talked about Army’s Jeff Monken because I thought that might be more agent chatter than anything, but it’s come up a lot. And frankly, it doesn’t get much tougher than Army in terms of working around the things players have to work around at VU. I am not certain whether Monken would bring the option or not—one person I talked to today described him as more of a football coach than an option guy, but that’s just one opinion and we really don’t know—but that’s something to dig in on.
Football Scoop reported that Bill O’Brien was interested in the job. Again, O’Brien graduated from Brown, was an assistant at Georgia Tech and Duke and rebuilt Penn State from disaster as a head coach. O’Brien checks a ton of boxes and might be particularly skilled at dealing with the roster mess they have now.
Obviously there’s Will Healy and that’s an obvious name, but Healy checks none of the boxes and the sense I get is that he’s not been given the consideration I think we figured he would.
And while I can connect USC’s Graham Harrell with interest in the job—and I’m not saying Harrell won’t get a look, and if so, you never know who’s going to leave an impression—he just doesn’t check nearly as many of the boxes as others.
There are always going to be minority candidates. Back to Candice Lee, she was trained for the job under David Williams and that’s the lens through which David increasingly filtered a lot of decisions after Gordon Gee left. And I do think that Candice mostly falls in the David Williams mold, but, based on some evidence I have, I don’t think it’s as much a driver for her as it is David.
But Vanderbilt is not going to fire a minority coach and not interview another one. And I’ve heard Alabama’s Charles Huff’s name a lot, and Clemson’s Tony Elliott has popped up again in a circle or two and of course VU interviewed the XFL’s Jonathan Hayes, who’s 58 and hasn’t coached in college excepting at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2002, and so that strikes me as a courtesy interview but you never know.
I can almost guarantee you nothing significant will leak out on the Vanderbilt end and so I’m now going to concentrate on running down names on this list and keeping my ear to the ground for others. And I don't expect it to leak from the VU end and if it does, they'll either make the announcement themselves or leak it to someone in the media who has played nice with them in recent weeks.
It’ll be a small number of people who have input on the decision. I think that’ll be Daniel Diermeier, Tommy McClelland, John Ingram and Candice Lee. A source who is very familiar with what goes on over there believes that Candice Lee will probably have the least say in the decision, but, she will probably have a lot of weight in how the decision is framed.
Here’s what I mean: Candice Lee has been at Vanderbilt for 20 years, is in very tight with Kirkland Hall and knows the climate at Vanderbilt. What my source thinks—and I agree—is that they’re going to want someone mature who fits their image and isn’t going to go about ruffling feathers the way James Franklin did.
And I think this source nailed it.
Because every time I hear a coaching search, I hear “ right fit” mentioned time and time again.
And that’s the exact kind of language I’ve heard from Vanderbilt every time they have a search. It’s why people like Rob Mullens don’t even get a phone call when they’re begging for the AD job. I think that’s why Jamey Chadwell didn’t go further than he did even though he was begging for the job.
And Vanderbilt literally does not care what we think of this. Vanderbilt always believes its view of things is the right one and doesn't generally open itself up to questioning of that.
And so I think what Candice said about coaching candidates and what they’re looking for is meaningless. And I should have known better. Because they play to their audience, and they just got rid of a defensive coordinator who hadn’t been a head coach, and what she threw out there as “what we want” was the antithesis of what Derek Mason was. And if that’s what they really wanted, I think they had a golden opportunity with Jamey Chadwell.
And so with that, let’s look at things through that filter. And that filter includes things like “get along with others at the university,” “understanding the way we do things at Vanderbilt,” “understanding the demands that come with a private school because you worked at one,” “understanding the time and academic demands on players at a place like Vanderbilt,” “clean track record,” “win at a place that’s hard to win at” and so on. And I think having a refined, CEO-type presentation also matters a lot.
And so with that, who would fit?
To me, Clark Lea is the best fit for all the reasons we’ve been over. He checks all the boxes. And we know there’s interest both ways. He's not been a head coach but he's played at Vanderbilt. And I think Clark would play really well to the old-money crowd as they allegedly try to raise money for facilities.
And just to be clear, I say none of that disparagingly. I really like Clark and his family from what I've known of him. And he may genuinely be the best guy for the job.
Lance Leipold does not check all boxes but he’s definitely that CEO type. He’s won huge two places including Buffalo (tough place to win), wants the job badly and has had contact with VU. And he’s been a head coach, which Lea hasn’t.
I have not really talked about Army’s Jeff Monken because I thought that might be more agent chatter than anything, but it’s come up a lot. And frankly, it doesn’t get much tougher than Army in terms of working around the things players have to work around at VU. I am not certain whether Monken would bring the option or not—one person I talked to today described him as more of a football coach than an option guy, but that’s just one opinion and we really don’t know—but that’s something to dig in on.
Football Scoop reported that Bill O’Brien was interested in the job. Again, O’Brien graduated from Brown, was an assistant at Georgia Tech and Duke and rebuilt Penn State from disaster as a head coach. O’Brien checks a ton of boxes and might be particularly skilled at dealing with the roster mess they have now.
Obviously there’s Will Healy and that’s an obvious name, but Healy checks none of the boxes and the sense I get is that he’s not been given the consideration I think we figured he would.
And while I can connect USC’s Graham Harrell with interest in the job—and I’m not saying Harrell won’t get a look, and if so, you never know who’s going to leave an impression—he just doesn’t check nearly as many of the boxes as others.
There are always going to be minority candidates. Back to Candice Lee, she was trained for the job under David Williams and that’s the lens through which David increasingly filtered a lot of decisions after Gordon Gee left. And I do think that Candice mostly falls in the David Williams mold, but, based on some evidence I have, I don’t think it’s as much a driver for her as it is David.
But Vanderbilt is not going to fire a minority coach and not interview another one. And I’ve heard Alabama’s Charles Huff’s name a lot, and Clemson’s Tony Elliott has popped up again in a circle or two and of course VU interviewed the XFL’s Jonathan Hayes, who’s 58 and hasn’t coached in college excepting at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2002, and so that strikes me as a courtesy interview but you never know.
I can almost guarantee you nothing significant will leak out on the Vanderbilt end and so I’m now going to concentrate on running down names on this list and keeping my ear to the ground for others. And I don't expect it to leak from the VU end and if it does, they'll either make the announcement themselves or leak it to someone in the media who has played nice with them in recent weeks.
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