Clark Lea
Clark Lea went 29–40 as a head coach, 2021–2026, at Vanderbilt. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–3); by them his record is 29–39. Share
- Record
- 29–40 career
- Seasons
- 6
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Nov 16, 1982
- Best season
- 2025 10–3, No. 15
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Vanderbilt | 2–10 | 7th | |||
| 2022 | Vanderbilt | 5–7 | 7th | |||
| 2023 | Vanderbilt | 2–10 | 7th | |||
| 2024 | Vanderbilt | 7–6 | T–11th | Birmingham Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | Vanderbilt | 10–3 | T–5th | ReliaQuest Bowl L | 15 | |
| 2026 | Vanderbilt | 3–4 (Wikipedia: 3–3) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Eli Stowers2025 John Mackey Award
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 24 | 5–19 | 21% |
| Against top-10 teams | 15 | 2–13 | 13% |
| Against rivals | 23 | 7–16 | 30% |
| Conference games | 44 | 11–33 | 25% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 23 | 13–10 | 57% |
| At home | 38 | 19–19 | 50% |
| On the road | 29 | 9–20 | 31% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 19 | 15–4 | 79% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 50 | 14–36 | 28% |
His own 69 games on file, 2021–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Stoops 2021–2025 | 3–2 | Kentucky | 5 | |
| Eli Drinkwitz 2021–2025 | 1–4 | Missouri | 5 | |
| Josh Heupel 2021–2025 | 1–4 | Tennessee | 5 | |
| Shane Beamer 2021–2025 | 1–4 | South Carolina | 5 | |
| Kirby Smart 2021–2026 | 0–4 | Georgia | 4 | |
| Lane Kiffin 2021–2023 | 0–3 | Ole Miss | 3 |
Clark Lea’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Kentuckyseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Missouriseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| South Carolinaseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Tennesseeseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Auburnseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Georgiaseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Ole Missseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Floridaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2025 Vanderbilt: Eddie Robinson
How he was hired
- Hired by Vanderbilt for the 2021 season from Notre Dame, where he was defensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Also a player: Clark Lea’s playing career.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Harvard–Westlake School high school | Assistant coach | |
| 2006 | UCLA | Graduate assistant | |
| 2007 | South Dakota State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2008 | South Dakota State | Recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2009 | UCLA | Graduate assistant | |
| 2010–11 | UCLA | Linebackers coach | |
| 2012 | Bowling Green | Linebackers coach | |
| 2013–15 | Syracuse | Linebackers coach | |
| 2016 | Wake Forest | Linebackers coach | |
| 2017 | Notre Dame | Linebackers coach | |
| 2018–20 | Notre Dame | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2021–present | Vanderbilt | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Karl DorrellUCLA
- Rick NeuheiselUCLA
- Mike JohnsonUCLA
- Dave ClawsonBowling Green, Wake Forest
- Scott ShaferSyracuse
- Brian KellyNotre Dame
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jesse MinterMichigan, Baltimore Ravens
- Dan JacksonSouth Dakota State
- Jerry KillNorthern Illinois, Minnesota, TCU, New Mexico State, Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois
- Tim BeckPittsburg State
- Bob ShoopColumbia
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karl Dorrell | UCLA | 2006 | Graduate assistant | |
| Rick Neuheisel | UCLA | 2009–11 | 2009: graduate assistant; 2010–11: linebackers coach | |
| Mike Johnson | UCLA | 2011 | Linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Bowling Green | 2012 | Linebackers coach | |
| Scott Shafer | Syracuse | 2013–15 | Linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Wake Forest | 2016 | Linebackers coach | |
| Brian Kelly | Notre Dame | 2017–20 | 2017: linebackers coach; 2018–20: defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Minter | Vanderbilt, 2021: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Michigan, Baltimore Ravens | |
| Dan Jackson | Vanderbilt, 2022–23: defensive backs coach | South Dakota State | |
| Jerry Kill | Vanderbilt, 2024–26: consultant | Northern Illinois, Minnesota, TCU, New Mexico State, Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois | |
| Tim Beck | Vanderbilt, 2024–26: offensive coordinator | Pittsburg State | |
| Bob Shoop | Vanderbilt, 2025–26: senior defensive analyst | Columbia |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| David Raih | Vanderbilt, 2021: offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Joey Lynch | Vanderbilt, 2021: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2022–23: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Nick Howell | Vanderbilt, 2022–23: defensive coordinator | |
| Steve Gregory | Vanderbilt, 2024: senior consultant and associate defensive coordinator; 2025–26: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Lea’s teams went for it on 27% of fourth downs and on 42% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 50% of plays and took 28.5 seconds a play, 2021–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 11 g | 29 of 113 26% | 36% | 52% | 26.6 | −0.04 | |
| 2022 12 g | 28 of 97 29% | 40% | 45% | 28.2 | −0.02 | |
| 2023 12 g | 27 of 96 28% | 38% | 57% | 27.4 | −0.07 | |
| 2024 13 g | 14 of 83 17% | 39% | 42% | 30.8 | +0.09 | |
| 2025 13 g | 18 of 56 32% | 54% | 53% | 29.5 | +0.33 | |
| 2026 7 g | 18 of 54 33% | 58% | 52% | 27.9 | +0.06 | |
| All 68 g | 134 of 499 27% | 42% | 50% | 28.5 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.