This season, Vanderbilt is no underdog. The Commodores have gone from being a nobody team to one that’s now in contention of making the playoffs. Vandy fans will sure want this success to continue under HC Clark Lea, but they might be in for a tough turn by the end. Lea’s brilliance amid other P4 coaches failing might set some interesting plans in motion.

With every week of the season, more and more college football coaching jobs are opening up. Brian Kelly is now out from LSU. Penn State is empty, as are Florida and Arkansas. Against this backdrop, Clark Lea just hauled in another win against a ranked team. Taking Vanderbilt to 7-1, his resume just got a lot more attractive. “If you love what Clark Lea is doing there, there’s going to be a market for Clark Lea,” Josh Pate said in an October 27 episode of his show.

“There are more jobs opening by the minute. And people aren’t stupid. They notice what’s happening here at Vanderbilt and they think to themselves, ‘If he could do that at Vanderbilt, imagine, you know, the rest,” Pate added. Vanderbilt looks like a whole new squad in Lea’s 5 season of coaching. He finished 7-6 last year, with a win over Alabama no less, and a bowl victory. In 2025, he’s stunning audiences into a stupor as he continues on with his near-flawless record. Clark Lea’s name has almost always popped up in the list of candidates every time a coach got fired this season.

Now, the onus is upon Vanderbilt to retain their coach after this season. There is no way Lea won’t be approached by some programs for their open roles. AD Candice Lee is very much aware of the demand that’s growing for Clark Lea in the job market. “It’s really a blessing to have leadership other people want, because it means you’re doing something right,” she told the Tennessean. Lee also affirmed that she wanted the coach to stay on “for a long, long time.” Clark Lea will earn $3.7 million for the 2025 season, and is already on extended contract, running since 2023.

With jobs like Florida, Penn State and LSU looking for their new leaders, there might be a chance Vanderbilt ups their amount to keep Clark Lea happy at Nashville. Even Nick Saban sounded an alarm for Vandy fans, thanks to their coach’s dominance of the season.

Nick Saban thinks Clark Lea is “gonna go someplace”

Nick Saban might’ve taken Vanderbilt lightly throughout his coaching career. He deemed Vanderbilt as the easiest program to play in the SEC last year. Now, Saban very well knows that is not the case. For the first time in nearly 80 years, Vanderbilt made it to the top 10 of the AP Poll. And it is because of this impressive turnout that Saban thought Vanderbilt might lose the man who made it all possible.

“I don’t want to make anybody mad here, but they better do something to keep Clark Lea here, because he’s gonna go someplace,” he said in a segment where the panelists were pitching in their bets to take over the Florida job. It’s not just the Swamp that’s open in the market right now, after all. Auburn and Kentucky too can become empty in the near future, and so can FSU. Clark Lea now has a prime opportunity to move onto the upper echelons of D1 football. Even if the Commodores don’t make it till the end, he’ll still be a lucrative name to look at.

“My goal has always been to build a championship-level program at Vanderbilt,” Lea told the press ahead of the Missouri clash. He also said that the coaching rumors don’t “faze” him, and is dedicated to bettering Vanderbilt at the moment. But after the season, Lea will get some phone calls. Can Vanderbilt athletics keep Lea locked in for more success in the future?