Vanderbilt’s breakout football season followed by a March Madness double act

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On a campus tucked between Music Row and mid-rise dorms, Vanderbilt athletics is humming at a volume its fans have not heard in decades. The Commodores closed the fall with the finest football season in school history, quarterbacked by the Heisman Trophy runner-up, and now the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are dancing into March with matching surges of momentum.

For the Southeastern Conference’s smallest and only private institution, the timing feels like a convergence of patience and planning. Athletic director Candice Storey Lee’s coaching hires—Clark Lea for football, Shea Ralph for women’s basketball and Mark Byington for men’s basketball—have all reached high-water marks within the same academic year, creating a rare synergy across programs.

“There’s so much synergy and just a great chemistry with all the athletic programs here,” Byington said. “We cheer so hard for each other and we have each other’s back and we know what each other’s going through and we share success.”

Byington, hired three days after leading No. 12 seed James Madison to a first-round NCAA upset last spring, has wasted no time resurrecting Vanderbilt’s men’s fortunes. His 16th-ranked Commodores are 26-8, equaling the most wins in program history set by the 1992-93 and 2007-08 teams. Seeded fifth in the South Region—the program’s highest since 2012—Vanderbilt opens Thursday in Oklahoma City against McNeese State.

The roster overhaul has been dramatic. Byington brought in 11 newcomers this season, including sixth-year transfer guard Duke Miles, whose 30-point eruption in the SEC quarterfinals showcased the backcourt firepower he supplies alongside AP All-SEC selection Tyler Tanner. A year ago the team watched the selection show wondering if its name would be called; this year the invite was never in doubt.

“It’s just a huge testament to the coaching staff and Coach Byington for making this team and this program a tournament team,” said Tanner, a Nashville-area sophomore. “I know for some years there was no hope there.”

While Byington’s rebuild has been swift, Ralph’s has been methodical. Arriving in 2021 after a pandemic-shortened eight-game season, she inherited a program that had missed nine straight NCAA Tournaments. In her fifth season the Commodores are 27-4, setting a school record for regular-season victories, and earned a No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth Region 1—their highest since 2007. Vanderbilt will host first- and second-round games in Memorial Gym for the first time since 2012.

“She’s built it from the ground up, step by step, brick by brick,” said senior forward Sacha Washington, who has spent her entire career under Ralph.

Sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes, the nation’s leading scorer at 27.0 points per game and the only returning starter from last season, embodies Ralph’s vision. The coach preaches delayed gratification, noting the value of perseverance when progress lags behind ambition.

“If it were easy, lots of other people would be doing it,” Ralph said. “It’s not. But the people that I have have committed to it, and you’re getting to see the results now.”

Facility upgrades have underpinned the rise. The Vandy United campaign funded the new Huber Center, which houses dedicated practice courts, locker rooms and meeting space for both basketball programs steps from Memorial Gym. Ralph credits the resources—leadership, people and infrastructure—for making Vanderbilt an easy place to stay and build.

The women open Saturday night against No. 15 seed High Point, with a potential path that includes familiar faces: top overall seed UConn is led by Geno Auriemma, Ralph’s former coach and boss. Yet the focus remains squarely on the next possession, the next game, the next step toward the program’s first Sweet 16 since 2009 and a Final Four return that has eluded Vanderbilt since 1993.

Across both programs, the Commodores have transformed from afterthoughts to contenders, feeding off each other’s success. Football’s breakthrough autumn set the tone; basketball’s winter carried it forward. Together they have delivered the most promising spring Vanderbilt athletics has seen in a generation.