LSU football coach Brian Kelly spent part of his Thursday praising Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, calling Lea’s steady vision for the Commodores a blueprint for how program building should work.
“It’s a great question,” Kelly said via Thomas Goldkamp of On3, noting that when coaches take over programs and “they took their lumps early on, it’s easy to listen to the noise and go away from what your vision is for your program.” Kelly added that Lea “has never swayed” from the plan he painted for Vanderbilt, and that consistency has driven the Commodores’ recent turnaround.
Lea survived two separate 2-10 seasons early in his tenure and still built a roster that now competes with ranked opponents. Kelly singled out the way Lea stuck to his principles while layering talent through recruiting and the transfer portal, moves that produced impact players such as quarterback Diego Pavia and others who have suddenly made Vanderbilt a real opponent in the SEC.
For LSU, the tilt in Nashville this weekend means respecting a coach who quietly rebuilt without any media attention. Kelly’s praise suggests he sees a program that followed a long-term script. That’s the same kind of patient construction Kelly preaches in Baton Rouge, and it’s a reason the matchup feels less like a trap game and more like a measuring stick.
The storyline also offers a counterpoint to the usual SEC narrative that success always arrives fast. Another layer to this story is the fact that Lea was once Kelly's assistant when the pair were together at Notre Dame. Lea served as the Defensive Coordinator for the Fighting Irish between 2018 and 2020.
Vanderbilt’s rise complicates LSU’s preparation. The Commodores mix a physical run game with play-action balance and a defense that attacks gaps aggressively. Kelly and his staff must game-plan for a team with a clear identity and buy-in.
Kelly gave Clark Lea his flowers because Lea earned them. Whether the Tigers can stop the Commodores’ momentum in Nashville comes down to execution on Saturday.
