BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An intriguing aspect of the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27 between Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt is that the matchup pits two coaches against one another who each played football for their respective schools. And as Vandy coach Clark Lea put it Thursday inside the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the similarities don’t end there.
“From two great academic institutions from two great cities, two alums with two great haircuts,” Lea said, referencing the lack of combined hair between himself and Tech coach Brent Key.
Lea, after beginning his college journey as a baseball player at Birmingham Southern, returned to his hometown of Nashville to play fullback for coach Bobby Johnson and the Commodores. In 2020 he was hired as Vandy’s next football coach — and the years since have been wrought with struggle.
Vandy went 2-10 in Lea’s first season, then 5-7 in 2022, then 2-10 again in 2023. The 2024 campaign was a breakthrough with the Commodores going 6-6 while beating Alabama, Auburn and Kentucky along the way.
“As the head coach at Vanderbilt, similar to (Key), it’s my alma mater, it’s a personal journey, it’s something that means the world to me,” Lea said about making the postseason in 2024. “And this moment, in my mind as I took the job and had to fall through the adversity of building a program, this is a moment that means more than I can express right now.”
Key’s journey through two-plus years at Tech hasn’t been as rocky. He has led the Yellow Jackets (7-5) to back-to-back bowl games after going 4-4 as the team’s interim coach in 2022.
The former Tech offensive lineman was back in his hometown Thursday to speak about the Dec. 27 matchup with the ‘Dores and lauded Lea’s efforts to get Vandy back in a bowl game for the first time since 2018.
“Really, to think back to a couple years ago, when you stood up at your (SEC) media days and talked about what your team’s gonna be, then to have to work every single day knowing how hard it is — and also how hard it is to do it at your alma mater, the pressure that comes with that? I know what it’s like, man. That’s a pretty awesome job,” Key said.
Key’s alma mater, meanwhile, is aiming for back-to-back bowl wins for the first time since the 2013-14 seasons. It hasn’t won eight games since 2016 and, if it beats Vandy, will end the 2024 season with three wins over its final four games.
The chance for his seniors to go out with a victory, Key said, will be at the forefront on his mind over the next few weeks.
“What they’ve done, not just this season, what they’ve been through over the last four years, five years, couple of ‘em six years, the lows, the highs, the building of a program, changing of coaches, players in and out, it’s a special senior class, it really is,” Key added.” They’ve been through a lot, they’ve weathered the storms, they’ve stuck together. We have of good as a locker room as you’ll ever see. I’m really for those guys to have one more opportunity to come play together and have a quality opponent.”
Vandy and Tech last faced each other in 2016, a 38-7 win by the Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Lea was the linebackers coach at Wake Forest that season, and Key was the offensive line coach at Alabama.
Eight years later the two stood next to each other for a photo opportunity next to the Birmingham Bowl trophy, a trophy both men would cherish displaying at their respective program’s trophy case.
“When you see the DNA of a program, whether it be the player connection, whether it be the mentality of the head coach, you pay attention to the team performance, you just take notes,” Lea said. “Georgia Tech’s a team I’ve taken notes on as Brent’s built that program out. What an incredible transformation they’ve had. So much respect for them.”
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