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Clark Lea
American football coach

Clark Lea

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
American football coach
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
Age
42 years
Education
Birmingham–Southern College
Birmingham, Jefferson County, USA
Vanderbilt University
USA
Belmont University
Nashville, Davidson County, USA
Sports Teams
Birmingham–Southern Panthers baseball (USA)
Belmont Bruins baseball (USA)
Vanderbilt Commodores football (USA)
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Clark Lea (born November 11, 1981) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at Vanderbilt since 2021. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame from 2018 to 2020. Lea began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2006 and went on to serve as an assistant coach at South Dakota State University, Bowling Green State University, Syracuse University, and Wake Forest University.

Playing career

Lea started his college career playing baseball. He helped lead Birmingham Southern to the 2001 NAIA championship his freshman year. Lea then transferred to Belmont University and played one year of baseball (5G, 2-for-5, K). Lea remained in Nashville and finished his college career at Vanderbilt, where he played fullback for the Commodores his final two years.

Coaching career

UCLA

In 2006, Lea began his coaching career at UCLA as a graduate assistant under head coach Karl Dorrell.

South Dakota State

In 2007, Lea joined South Dakota State University as their linebackers coach under head coach John Stiegelmeier. In 2008, Lea was given an additional role as recruiting coordinator.

UCLA (second stint)

In 2009, Lea returned to UCLA as a graduate assistant under head coach Rick Neuheisel. In 2010, he was promoted to linebackers coach. Following Neuheisel's firing on November 28, 2011, Lea was not retained by UCLA for the 2012 season.

Bowling Green

In 2012, Lea was hired as the linebackers coach at Bowling Green State University under defensive coordinator Mike Elko and head coach Dave Clawson.

Syracuse

In 2013, Lea joined Syracuse University as their linebackers coach under head coach Scott Shafer.

Wake Forest

In 2016, Lea was hired as the linebackers coach at Wake Forest University, reuniting with defensive coordinator Mike Elko and head coach Dave Clawson.

Notre Dame

In 2017, Lea followed defensive coordinator Mike Elko to the University of Notre Dame to serve as their linebackers coach under head coach Brian Kelly. In January 2018, Lea was promoted to defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Elko, who departed to serve in the same role at Texas A&M.

Vanderbilt

On December 14, 2020, Lea was named the 29th head football coach at Vanderbilt University, replacing Derek Mason.

In the 2021 season, Lea led Vanderbilt to a 2–10 mark in his first season as head coach. The 2022 season marked improvement for Lea and the Commodores with a 5–7 record. The Commodores defeated SEC East rivals Kentucky and Florida to highlight the 2022 season. In the 2023 offseason, Lea's contract was extended three years through the 2029 season. Lea coached Vanderbilt to a 2–10 record in the 2023 season. On October 5, 2024, Lea coached Vanderbilt to a 40-35 upset victory over #1 Alabama, the Commodores' first ever win vs an AP top 5 team, as well as their first win over Alabama since 1984.

Head coaching record

YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffs
Vanderbilt Commodores (Southeastern Conference)
2021Vanderbilt2–100–87th
2022Vanderbilt5–72–67th
2023Vanderbilt2–100–87th
2024Vanderbilt6–33–2
Vanderbilt:15–305–24
Total:15–30
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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