Clark Lea has received a public vote of confidence from athletic director Candice Lee in comments she offered today.
Asked by The Tennessean if they should expect Lea back next fall, Lee shared, "Yes, I expect Clark Lea to be back next season."
"Clark Lea is our football coach until I say otherwise, and I am excited for he and I to continue working together to get this program where we expect it to be," she went on to share.
Lea and the Commodore are sitting at 2-9 with one final game remaining against Tennessee to end their season this weekend.
They started the season 2-0 with wins over Hawaii (35-28) and FCS Alabama A&M.
However, since that point, they've dropped nine games in a row, and with one game left in year three of his tenure, Lea has just two wins against Power 5 opponents.
Among those nine straight losses this fall are a three-point loss to UNLV week four, and double-digit losses to unranked opponents in Kentucky, Florida, Auburn, and South Carolina coupled with losses to ranked teams like Missouri, Georgia and Ole Miss.
Back in July, coming off a 2022 season where they beat Kentucky and Florida in back-to-back weeks, Vanderbilt inked Lea to a contract extension.
The extension was for three-years taking him through the 2029 season.
Next year's 2024 slate opens with a neutral site game at Nissan Stadium against Virginia Tech in Nashville before non-conference tilts against FCS Norfolk State, SMU and Georgia State.
He enters the final week of the season with a 9-26 record, with his best season being 2022's 5-7 finish thus far.
The program is a decade removed from what certainly seems to be its Golden Era under James Franklin and his staff, who led the team to a bowl game his first season (2011), and a 6-7 finish. That was followed up with back-to-back 9-win seasons in 2012 and 2013.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.