Clark Lea shares how he models Vanderbilt program after Kentucky

When Clark Lea took over the Vanderbilt program, he knew that it would be a long rebuild. Within the SEC East, he found a model to follow, looking north at the Kentucky Wildcats.

This week, Vanderbilt is getting ready to host that Kentucky program. Ahead of the game, Lea praised the program, explaining that he looked at the Kentucky program and saw parallels to what he wants to do at Vanderbilt.

“We shift attention this week to Kentucky, which as I’ve said in the past, I’ve got a ton of respect for Coach [Mark] Stoops and his program,” Clark Lea said. “I think in so many ways as I accepted this position, I looked at the build he undertook at Kentucky and saw a lot of parallels, really admired the way he developed that program over time, and now has established sustained success.”

Mark Stoops took over the Kentucky program ahead of the 2013 season. At that point, the Wildcats hadn’t had a winning season since 2009. In 2016, Stoops led Kentucky to a bowl game and hasn’t missed a bowl game since, becoming an incredibly consistent program in the process.

For Clark Lea, Stoops’ program is still a great model.

“They’re a great model for that in the league. I think he’s also supplemented his roster effectively in the transfer portal and they’re a really good team.”

When Clark Lea got to Vanderbilt, he knew he was in for a massive rebuild. That’s an ongoing process and to this point in the season, Vanderbilt is at 2-2 with its SEC schedule coming up.

“As we turn the page and we get our focus set on playing Kentucky and playing our best this weekend, it’s important that internally we don’t spend time forecasting. We’re 2-2. All our goals are out in front of us. We have better results awaiting us if we train and decide to play better football, and certainly a year ago we were at this moment 3-1 and we ended up playing poorly in five consecutive league games,” Lea said.

“We know at this moment that we have to be beyond that. Our performance will be our focus this weekend and we need to collect and capture the margins. We need to win and have a chance to win at home against a league opponent.”

Clark Lea reaffirmed his commitment to player development

One thing that Clark Lea has wanted to do is develop talent from within the program, instead of using the transfer portal. That’s a commitment he recently reaffirmed his commitment to.

“Well we stick with the players we have because that’s what this program’s defined by, and that’s an essential part of being developmental,” Lea said.

“And I said this early on, I forget when if it was my first press conference or first SEC Media Days, but we’ve never insinuated that we’re going to skip steps here. That we’re somehow looking to find a cheat code or a shortcut to results, we want to build the foundation first and that is hard.”