Verdict on the new coach

[PeteFox]

It's been three games and the verdict is in on the new coach. Hung jury.

The best coach in the universe could not win with the talent on today's team. it doesn't matter what play calls and schemes you come up with, and as someone else noted, you can't win the Kentucky derby with a mule, no matter who the jockey is.

The jury will be sent back to deliberations after the final recruiting period. If we continue to recruit and sign a majority of slow, short , 2-and 3-star receivers and cornerbacks, and slow, undersized linemen, then the verdict will be in:-- guilty of malfeasance.

I hope UConn is as bad as advertised. We MIGHT have a chance.

[belair]

Of course half full look would say that the team that played last night would have certainly beaten ETSU. Half empty is how could we even be as bad as we were in Game One.

[thefan]

60 years is far more to blame than any coach they have ever hired in that same period of time!

[mnvandy]

Long story short, hard to blame Lea on a roster that mostly isn’t his and left a lot to be desired last season as it was. The next recruiting cycle will be the first true test, especially given the credentials of those leading said efforts.

And yes, Vandy beats UConn.

[VU1970]

No need to rush to a verdict. Relax, have some Milk Duds.

[cc11316]

A verdict is usually used in the context of a decision and three games into the first season is definitely not enough for a decision on CCL. If you are using it to describe your opinion after 3 games, all good. I tend to look at the coach on a broad spectrum ranging from 1 - Rod Dowhower to 10 - Nick Saban.

So far, maybe a 6 or 7. It's a long, long road to a verdict.

[Johnmn555]

So much of the verdict is going to be based on his recruiting ability, and we really don't have an idea how good he will be in that area.

[Nashmann]

REcruiting 4 stars is easy....getting them to sign & come to Vandy is difficult. Unless Lea can get them to come we will sink with just all 3 stars. I don't care how good of a coach you think you are....time to step it up. A pass on this year.

[DeefromAtlanta]

You already answered your question. He's a new head coach.

It's been three games and the verdict is in on the new coach. Hung jury.

The best coach in the universe could not win with the talent on today's team. it doesn't matter what play calls and schemes you come up with, and as someone else noted, you can't win the Kentucky derby with a mule, no matter who the jockey is.

The jury will be sent back to deliberations after the final recruiting period. If we continue to recruit and sign a majority of slow, short , 2-and 3-star receivers and cornerbacks, and slow, undersized linemen, then the verdict will be in:-- guilty of malfeasance.

I hope UConn is as bad as advertised. We MIGHT have a chance.

[dore74]

I'm encouraged. I like the way the team has improved over the past three weeks. We looked more organized that we did under the last staff. We simply don't have the horses.

On the question of recruiting, only time will tell.

Frankly the next year (or two) will take patience on the part of us fans. Pre-season I figured we'd win three games this year, so two will not be too far off that mark. (I too blanched at the ETSU result, but the next two games restored my optimism.) Poach inherited a better team than Coach Lea. Nevertheless a surprise upset as the year goes on would be excellent--but as of now its highly doubtful given the gulf in talent between us and other teams in the SEC. And versus the really good SEC teams, OMG will it be ugly.

Keep the faith Pete, after two years I'll join your more pessimistic perspective if recruiting and results don't improve, but until then i'm on the glass half full squad.

[Commodoredave]

No way to take any sort of positive from the ETSU fiasco, but the last two weeks have shown growth.
We played well at times vs Stanford as the stats will show, but we ultimately made too many mistakes and played our way out of that one.

This week will be painful, and there will be more of those down the road with a very short roster.

This is a complete rebuild. No comparison to the state of the program and the roster when Mason took over. If Lea can hold the recruiting class together, the season will be a win.

[bornadore57]

I remain optimistic about the future of Vanderbilt football and like Coach Lea's approach. I also like the people he has on staff and believe much of his success will depend on retention (of players, coaches, and staff).

I do think (hope) that recruiting will improve. Early signs seem promising. It was somewhat encouraging to me to know that while Coach Lea was focused on the game against Stanford, Barton Simmons and other good people were overseeing one of the largest gatherings of Vanderbilt recruits in a long time. Any news on how the weekend went?

I believe (hope) that there will be fewer players entering the transfer portal (think how much better this team would be without the transfer-outs which occurred in the last 18 months). Retention of players AND coaches can enhance the program.

I also believe (hope) that the player development will be improved. I recognize the number of stars represents where a young man is judged to be at a certain point in his life and the more the better. I also recognize that where we are in life at 17 is much different than where we are at 22. That is true in many areas of our life, including as football players. The better the development program, the greater your motivation, and the better the people you surround yourself with, the better you'll be at 22. Coach Lea seems to be attentive to all those areas.

I also believe (hope) that Vanderbilt recognizes its need to be more competitive in football and is finally (I hope) willing to approach improvement in all aspects of support toward that goal.

At the same time, I thought the ETSU game was unforgiveable. I hope, that in time, I'll be able to forgive that as an outlier. I do believe I've seen some growth in execution on the field and on the sidelines. Coach Mason never earned forgiveness for the Temple game and it simply, in hindsight, was a precursor of what was to come.

In summary, I remain encouraged, despite some feelings of discouragement.

[vandy05]

I agree with some of this and I disagree with some of it. It is going to forever be difficult to sign four star kids to come to Vanderbilt. You have to be able to coach them up. We have to have superior coaching because it is always going to be difficult to have superior talent. I'm not talking about having better coaches than Alabama. But having better coaching than Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State, USCe, etc. is going to be the key to consistently winning. Part of that coaching talent is the ability to recruit.

I'm more hopeful after the last two weeks. Keeping fingers crossed that we can continue to improve.

[alathIN]

I agree with some of this and I disagree with some of it. It is going to forever be difficult to sign four star kids to come to Vanderbilt. You have to be able to coach them up. We have to have superior coaching because it is always going to be difficult to have superior talent. I'm not talking about having better coaches than Alabama. But having better coaching than Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State, USCe, etc. is going to be the key to consistently winning. Part of that coaching talent is the ability to recruit.

I'm more hopeful after the last two weeks. Keeping fingers crossed that we can continue to improve.

Barton Simmons had a good take on the recruiting challenge at Vanderbilt - discussed on the Anchor podcast. He said - realistically I believe - that Vanderbilt is unlikely to fill classes of 18-20 four and five star recruits in the near future. As there is more success that comes in to the picture, but right now the reality is that we will be landing mostly 3 star recruits. None of that should be a shock to anyone in contact with reality.
The challenge as he identifies it is to reduce the number of 3-stars who don't pan out - more "hits" and fewer "misses."
It sounds like they have put together stats from past classes to identify what variables predict hits and misses. His example was something like "If all of our tight end hits are 6-3 to 6-5 and played high school basketball, I'm going to recruit 6-3 to 6-5 tight ends who played high school basketball."
I suspect the model is more complex than that - and I really doubt he would share what the variables are that they've identified as strong predictors - but the overall idea makes sense.
Also Barton Simmons has long standing relationships with high school coaches - just generally football people - all over the place. If he can get better information about recruits' personalities and whether they're likely to thrive at Vanderbilt, that will translate into more hits.

I hadn't thought about this before, but the idea that Vanderbilt's weakness is not so much a lack of All-SEC superstars as a lack of quality SEC level players two or three deep at every position, fits in with what I've seen over the years. The three-star "hits" aren't good enough to beat Alabama, but they're good enough to beat the lower tier SEC teams and OOC teams - but only if you have a deep roster of "hits" and not a roster that's full of "misses."

[baseball1234]

IMHO, transfers this year would have helped us tremendously. Year one is crucial for recruiting and some D1 bodies would help us with depth etc. Understand that Lea will not focus on transfers, but i believe that transfers this year would have at least been a helpful band-aid in the short term.

[vandydrew]

While I agree that we should suspend judgment, I do see some positives that contrast from other Vandy coaches. After the ETSU game, Coach Lea said he was here to build a program, not just beat ETSU, although he was obviously disappointed. (paraphrase) We've criticized former coaches for personally attacking players, or being too abrasive. Then we got a new coach who some criticized for just smiling and clapping while the team fell apart. Then others who might not have had enough of a Vandy "polish" when they first arrived. (Not to mention names, but I think you know where I'm coming from.) Clark Lea's response after the ETSU game reminded me of a parent who has high expectations for their children's behavior, while still remaining classy and in control. Feel free to disagree, as most of you have probably seen and read more of his interactions with the media, but I think we have reason to be optimistic.

[OldDude]

IMHO, transfers this year would have helped us tremendously. Year one is crucial for recruiting and some D1 bodies would help us with depth etc. Understand that Lea will not focus on transfers, but i believe that transfers this year would have at least been a helpful band-aid in the short term.

Agree with you on the transfers, but there is also the traditional stance at Kirkland as to allowing transfers of any sort. I believe their position is that anyone graduating with a VU degree should have earned it in VU classes. It has always been difficult to transfer into VU so athletes hoping to come here may face that additional hurdle unless entering grad school. I would make the argument that a lot of good and smart grads from the Bamas and Ohio States of the world may not be NFL ready but could make a contribution and be sold on a VU Masters.

[Johnmn555]

Considering all of the transfers out we had in the latter part of Mason's watch and immediately thereafter, to not take in transfers after the CCL was hired amounted to fighting with one hand tied behind our back.