'That's the Reason you Play:' Why Clark Lea Isn't Discouraging Unfamiliar National Championship Expectations

Twenty something minutes after one of Vanderbilt’s final workout sessions as a team before the start of its spring practices, Diego Pavia runs over to the sideline and speaks into the microphone without any hesitation. 

"The natty,” he says, “that's all we got on our mind.” 

Pavia has never been afraid to speak his mind. This is the guy that believed Vanderbilt could knock off No. 1 Alabama. It’s the guy that thought he was good enough when nobody else did. He’s the rare college football quarterback to make it on Bussin’ with the Boys and make declarations about any and all things related to his program. 

Nobody around Vanderbilt football has ever spoken like Pavia speaks. The program has had teams with confidence and high aspirations, but they didn’t talk about national championships. They didn’t think of that as a possibility. Pavia does, though. 

As a result, his teammates believe the same thing. 

“We have the pieces we need to compete for a national championship,” Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers said moments after a team meeting with a similar message in the days following Pavia’s initial comment. “That’s the goal. Anything less would be undershooting ourselves.” 

Walk over to the sideline and around the cameras at nearly any other school in Vanderbilt’s league of giants and you’d hear the same thing, but hearing Pavia and Stowers speak that way was almost jarring to anyone who’s been around this program for any extended period of time. 

Vanderbilt just finished a 7-6 season that gave it the 10th bowl appearance in the program’s 121-year history. Its record since the inception of its program is 563-648-43. If anyone in Vanderbilt’s past was naive enough to speak the way its current players are, they’d be ridiculed. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea knows that, yet he’s not telling his players to stand down. 

“I encourage it,” Lea told Vandy on SI. “That’s the reason you play. You want to aim at the highest targets.”

Lea himself has been a visionary of sorts regarding Vanderbilt’s ceiling as a program in the past and hasn’t been shy about making comments to spotlight what he’s ultimately building. The Vanderbilt coach took the stage at SEC Media Days years ago and declared that his program “in time” would become “the best program in the country.” After its bowl-eligibility clinching win over Auburn, he declared that he believes the world “needs” a strong Vanderbilt football program. 

Vanderbilt–despite picking up a win over No. 1 Alabama in 2024–has yet to reach the standard that Lea would like to set within its program. It’s made progress, though. Lea knows that the progress his group has made as well as the expectations that it has made it a target of sorts. 

The fifth-year Vanderbilt coach is fine with declarations, but warns his group that they better be ready for all of their opponents to hear what they’ve said and act accordingly. 

“There can’t be a fall Saturday where we don’t show up with identity, with strategy, with cohesion and alignment,” Lea said. “You can’t afford to have a bad day, that’s a part of it. That puts pressure on you and so what we try to do is understand that pressure and train under that pressure.” 

Similarly to Vanderbilt’s sole purpose of only talking about and worrying about beating Alabama in the week leading up to its eventual upset victory, it references its goals often throughout its summer workouts and lead up to fall camp preparation. 

If the intensity isn’t there during a workout or someone is late to an assignment, there’s a reminder. If there’s a lack of focus, there’s a reminder. If you want to talk like a potential national champion, Lea will discipline you like one.

“It allows for a quicker redirection when we’re not showing consistency,” Lea said. “Your goals don’t differentiate you. Your identity and your behaviours and your choices differentiate you. It allows for me to redirect them because those are the things we talk about so when they have a tough week, or a tough day or there’s a day where we’re not showing discipline, respect and spirit, it gives me firm ground to stand on to establish boundaries.” 

Lea’s biggest boiling points involve apathy or a lack of intentionality in day-to-day work. If Vanderbilt is going to get to where it wants to go, it has to avoid those things. It saw what happened in 2024 when it had punctuality issues and focus issues the week of its eventual 36-32 loss to Georgia State. 

To live up to its internal talk, it can’t have games like that. It has to be nearly perfect. No more apathy. No more lack of focus. Those things have to be of the past if this is to be more than just talk. 

“It really isn’t about what we say or what we set as goals,” Lea said, “It’s really just about the work we do and how consistent we can become so that week in, week out in the fall we’re able to sustain a level of performance.”