Clark Lea Q&A SEC Media Days full transcript (main media room)
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 11:03 am
CLARK LEA: Good morning, and thank you, commissioner, for that introduction. On behalf of Vanderbilt University, our chancellor Daniel Diermeier, and our athletics director Candice Lee, I welcome you to our city and to my hometown. Nashville has always been a vibrant part of the Vanderbilt experience. It's one of the great sports cities in America and a loyal partner to our program. We're excited to share our home with the college football world this week and hope everyone enjoys their time here.
A year ago we were hard at work on the foundational identity of our program, while also searching for on-field progress. This led to inconsistent play and plenty of challenging moments.
The adversity we faced strengthened our resolve and helped to refine our process, giving way to an evolved team that was able to find flashes of success.
Though we can celebrate progress, we will never be satisfied with 5-7. Vanderbilt football pursues success at the highest level, and we will not back down from our mission to build the best college football program in the nation.
Just down the road for the past seven months, team 3 has been training with intention in an effort to form the most capable team to this point in my tenure. As we stand now in front of a clean sheet, our goal is postseason play. The margins remain razor thin for our program, and the difference between achieving our goal and being left in the wake of disappointment likely comes down to a handful of snaps this season. We understand that progress is seldom linear and certainly never a guarantee, and it's our shared responsibility now to capture these margins in our design and preparation.
To accomplish this, each program member must be willing= to go beyond our limits, ever-evolving the internal expectations for what it means to invest in our process and strengthen our culture. We simply cannot miss any opportunity to take ground on our mission.
Two and a half years ago when I came home to Nashville, I wanted to prove to the world what I knew to be true about the potential of Vanderbilt football. As we've struggled through the challenges inherent in changing a culture and resuscitating a program, I realize I'm now motivated less by what I proved to those on the outside and more by what I share with those on the inside. The chip on my shoulder is still there and it's still important, but what's more important to me is honor of collaborating with the first-class people that make up Vanderbilt football. I love going to work every day with our players and staff, with our fans and our loyal alums, to build a prep program we can all be proud of. I'm grateful to work arm in arm with our leadership, specifically Daniel Diermeier and Candice Lee, the best partners I could ever ask for. They're tough, competitive, compassionate leaders with great vision and a willingness always to show up and do the work. The love I have for the work we're doing reminds me of just how unique our journey at Vanderbilt is. As I look out my window daily, I now witness the physical transformation of our spaces, a reality that very few believed would ever be possible. Our buildings are changing, but our foundation never will. What makes Vanderbilt football special is our people, fully devoted to each other and aligned on our team mission.
We forge the bonds of human connection the only way we know how and the only way that lasts: Finding our joy and purpose in shared suffering and sacrifice. This coupled with our developmental approach ensures that we maximize the experience of each individual in our program. We're playing the long game at Vanderbilt, and rather than have our program blowing in the wind, moved by the latest trends in the broader landscape of college football, we've chosen to set our foundation in deep and solid ground, and we're committed to seeing our mission
through. Our belief is simple: Devoted people, developmental approach, dominant program. Thank you.
Q. I wanted to ask you about a way you build your roster, and it's one of the first hires you made. It was kind of an outside-the-box thing, and he had been so involved in recruiting. But talk about Barton Simmons and the role he plays and how he's helped you build your roster so far at Vanderbilt University.
CLARK LEA: Barton has been such a great partner, and the truth is that hire was made like back in the seventh grade, I think. He's been a best friend of mine for a really long time.
One of the cool things to me is obviously I've got a ton of respect for Barton as a professional, but respect him so much as a competitor, too. We built our bonds on the fields of high school football and competing together. As we got into our respective professions we stayed obviously in close touch, and always had, I think, not always supported by our wives, but we'd have these long conversations about what development looked like, what players looked like in high school that became pros, and where some of the flaws are in the system for evaluation; what is valued maybe externally that we know sometimes can be misplaced internally. Over the years, we kept having these conversations, and so I really wanted someone to reimagine what recruiting could be. We needed to be very specific and precise. We needed to be surgical with how we were building our roster here, and we can't afford to miss. But we also understand that because we are developmentally based that those players that we bring in that get our full investment every day, their performance will amplify. I've got a couple guys with me today that are examples of that. Will Sheppard and Ethan Barr. We didn't recruit them but they had very similar journeys out where Vanderbilt was their only Power Five offer.
Jaylen Mahoney who's here had some other options, but these are really good players and All-SEC level players that were grown and developed in those systems. Again, his willingness to take that approach, and not even willingness, but the alignment that we have on the vision of what a developmental program can and should be, it's been a lot of fun. We continue to have fun and he continues to be such a valued part of our process. The good news for me is he's a Nashvillean like I am, and I know Haley, his wife is not going anywhere so this partnership will go for a really long time.
Q. On defense the corners seem to be the biggest question mark for you guys heading into the season. How do you plan to balance playing the veterans and the young guys that you've still got that are developing?
CLARK LEA: Yeah, we have to find the best 11 on both sides. We do return some snaps at corner, but that doesn't mean that they haven't played a bunch. This is about finding the people that are capable in the moment. Obviously in a game now that is won and lost on the perimeter. We have to give our young players a chance to develop in fall camp. Obviously we have some second year players that are further along in their progress that we expect to have a role on our team. We also have a true freshman that comes in with the chance to make an impact, too, and one of the great -- the way we start our season won't almost assuredly won't be the -- the patience to see that level of performance come to the surface. mIf you remember a year ago, CJ Taylor started as kind of a fringe contributor on our defense and became really our most dynamic playmaker on that side of the ball. That'll happen at some level this year, too. What our goal here is in fall camp is to get all those guys exposure, and they're going to be guarding some
SEC-level receivers now. We have a good receiving corps, and it's not always going to look pretty. But for us, it's to be patient enough to see that through, to keep coaching and developing them through both their wins and their losses and their reps, and to see how that
group matures through camp and where we're ready to start the season.
At the point at which we put the ball down against Hawai'i, we don't stop evaluating at that point. We'll still look for the highest level performance. That gives those young players time to build into an impact role.
Q. Big picture question: Next season Texas joins the SEC, and obviously they'll be traveling to your house. Your impressions on Texas, anything you can say about them? What kind of team can Texas expect to face once they see you guys in 2024?
CLARK LEA: Well, obviously you're talking to a football coach ahead of fall camp, so my scope is pretty narrow right now. I'm excited about the way the league is expanding. I think obviously to add Texas and Oklahoma is a statement, and as a competitor, no matter where you are, if you're a real competitor, you're looking to measure yourself against the very best. That's what our league allows us to do. No matter who we play against this year or next year, the goal is that they play against a team that knows perfectly who they are, plays to an identity, and has weaponized that identity to puncture the shell of the opponent. I want everyone we play against to leave the field having learned something about themselves because that Vanderbilt group is really tough and relentless and never stops and also has the weapons to be dangerous. We're a work in progress that way. A year ago we were inconsistent with how we showed up. This year we'll be a little further along by the time Texas comes to town.
Hopefully we'll be ready to play Vanderbilt football from the first snap to the last.
Q. You mentioned the facility improvements that are going on on campus right now. Specifically for your program, have you already seen them pay a benefit in recruiting? Anything else that you can promise for the future?
[CONTINUED]...
A year ago we were hard at work on the foundational identity of our program, while also searching for on-field progress. This led to inconsistent play and plenty of challenging moments.
The adversity we faced strengthened our resolve and helped to refine our process, giving way to an evolved team that was able to find flashes of success.
Though we can celebrate progress, we will never be satisfied with 5-7. Vanderbilt football pursues success at the highest level, and we will not back down from our mission to build the best college football program in the nation.
Just down the road for the past seven months, team 3 has been training with intention in an effort to form the most capable team to this point in my tenure. As we stand now in front of a clean sheet, our goal is postseason play. The margins remain razor thin for our program, and the difference between achieving our goal and being left in the wake of disappointment likely comes down to a handful of snaps this season. We understand that progress is seldom linear and certainly never a guarantee, and it's our shared responsibility now to capture these margins in our design and preparation.
To accomplish this, each program member must be willing= to go beyond our limits, ever-evolving the internal expectations for what it means to invest in our process and strengthen our culture. We simply cannot miss any opportunity to take ground on our mission.
Two and a half years ago when I came home to Nashville, I wanted to prove to the world what I knew to be true about the potential of Vanderbilt football. As we've struggled through the challenges inherent in changing a culture and resuscitating a program, I realize I'm now motivated less by what I proved to those on the outside and more by what I share with those on the inside. The chip on my shoulder is still there and it's still important, but what's more important to me is honor of collaborating with the first-class people that make up Vanderbilt football. I love going to work every day with our players and staff, with our fans and our loyal alums, to build a prep program we can all be proud of. I'm grateful to work arm in arm with our leadership, specifically Daniel Diermeier and Candice Lee, the best partners I could ever ask for. They're tough, competitive, compassionate leaders with great vision and a willingness always to show up and do the work. The love I have for the work we're doing reminds me of just how unique our journey at Vanderbilt is. As I look out my window daily, I now witness the physical transformation of our spaces, a reality that very few believed would ever be possible. Our buildings are changing, but our foundation never will. What makes Vanderbilt football special is our people, fully devoted to each other and aligned on our team mission.
We forge the bonds of human connection the only way we know how and the only way that lasts: Finding our joy and purpose in shared suffering and sacrifice. This coupled with our developmental approach ensures that we maximize the experience of each individual in our program. We're playing the long game at Vanderbilt, and rather than have our program blowing in the wind, moved by the latest trends in the broader landscape of college football, we've chosen to set our foundation in deep and solid ground, and we're committed to seeing our mission
through. Our belief is simple: Devoted people, developmental approach, dominant program. Thank you.
Q. I wanted to ask you about a way you build your roster, and it's one of the first hires you made. It was kind of an outside-the-box thing, and he had been so involved in recruiting. But talk about Barton Simmons and the role he plays and how he's helped you build your roster so far at Vanderbilt University.
CLARK LEA: Barton has been such a great partner, and the truth is that hire was made like back in the seventh grade, I think. He's been a best friend of mine for a really long time.
One of the cool things to me is obviously I've got a ton of respect for Barton as a professional, but respect him so much as a competitor, too. We built our bonds on the fields of high school football and competing together. As we got into our respective professions we stayed obviously in close touch, and always had, I think, not always supported by our wives, but we'd have these long conversations about what development looked like, what players looked like in high school that became pros, and where some of the flaws are in the system for evaluation; what is valued maybe externally that we know sometimes can be misplaced internally. Over the years, we kept having these conversations, and so I really wanted someone to reimagine what recruiting could be. We needed to be very specific and precise. We needed to be surgical with how we were building our roster here, and we can't afford to miss. But we also understand that because we are developmentally based that those players that we bring in that get our full investment every day, their performance will amplify. I've got a couple guys with me today that are examples of that. Will Sheppard and Ethan Barr. We didn't recruit them but they had very similar journeys out where Vanderbilt was their only Power Five offer.
Jaylen Mahoney who's here had some other options, but these are really good players and All-SEC level players that were grown and developed in those systems. Again, his willingness to take that approach, and not even willingness, but the alignment that we have on the vision of what a developmental program can and should be, it's been a lot of fun. We continue to have fun and he continues to be such a valued part of our process. The good news for me is he's a Nashvillean like I am, and I know Haley, his wife is not going anywhere so this partnership will go for a really long time.
Q. On defense the corners seem to be the biggest question mark for you guys heading into the season. How do you plan to balance playing the veterans and the young guys that you've still got that are developing?
CLARK LEA: Yeah, we have to find the best 11 on both sides. We do return some snaps at corner, but that doesn't mean that they haven't played a bunch. This is about finding the people that are capable in the moment. Obviously in a game now that is won and lost on the perimeter. We have to give our young players a chance to develop in fall camp. Obviously we have some second year players that are further along in their progress that we expect to have a role on our team. We also have a true freshman that comes in with the chance to make an impact, too, and one of the great -- the way we start our season won't almost assuredly won't be the -- the patience to see that level of performance come to the surface. mIf you remember a year ago, CJ Taylor started as kind of a fringe contributor on our defense and became really our most dynamic playmaker on that side of the ball. That'll happen at some level this year, too. What our goal here is in fall camp is to get all those guys exposure, and they're going to be guarding some
SEC-level receivers now. We have a good receiving corps, and it's not always going to look pretty. But for us, it's to be patient enough to see that through, to keep coaching and developing them through both their wins and their losses and their reps, and to see how that
group matures through camp and where we're ready to start the season.
At the point at which we put the ball down against Hawai'i, we don't stop evaluating at that point. We'll still look for the highest level performance. That gives those young players time to build into an impact role.
Q. Big picture question: Next season Texas joins the SEC, and obviously they'll be traveling to your house. Your impressions on Texas, anything you can say about them? What kind of team can Texas expect to face once they see you guys in 2024?
CLARK LEA: Well, obviously you're talking to a football coach ahead of fall camp, so my scope is pretty narrow right now. I'm excited about the way the league is expanding. I think obviously to add Texas and Oklahoma is a statement, and as a competitor, no matter where you are, if you're a real competitor, you're looking to measure yourself against the very best. That's what our league allows us to do. No matter who we play against this year or next year, the goal is that they play against a team that knows perfectly who they are, plays to an identity, and has weaponized that identity to puncture the shell of the opponent. I want everyone we play against to leave the field having learned something about themselves because that Vanderbilt group is really tough and relentless and never stops and also has the weapons to be dangerous. We're a work in progress that way. A year ago we were inconsistent with how we showed up. This year we'll be a little further along by the time Texas comes to town.
Hopefully we'll be ready to play Vanderbilt football from the first snap to the last.
Q. You mentioned the facility improvements that are going on on campus right now. Specifically for your program, have you already seen them pay a benefit in recruiting? Anything else that you can promise for the future?
[CONTINUED]...