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Clark Lea wants to lead by example. The head college football coach at Vanderbilt got in the best shape of his life to show his players that he practices what he preaches.
That cannot be said for many (if not most) of the other figureheads in his same position.
Lea, who holds his college football player accountable at every practice, hits the gym alongside his 13-year-old son to hold himself accountable. They even built a common bond through deadlifting!
Who is Clark Lea?
The 43-year-old Nashville-native played fullback for the Commodores from 2002 to 2004. At that point, upon graduation, he began his coaching career at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles.
From there, it was stops at UCLA, South Dakota State, Bowling Green, Syracuse and Wake Forest. He eventually landed at Notre Dame in 2017 as a linebackers coach. Brian Kelly elevated him to defensive coordinator in 2018.
Lea served the Fighting Irish until December 14, 2020, when he was named as the 29th head football coach in the history of his alma mater. Vanderbilt went from 2-10 to 7-6 in four years with a historic upset win over Alabama and its first bowl win since 2013 last season.
There is a lot of buzz about what Clark Lea has built on West End. Quarterback Diego Pavia set the expectation at national championship or bust. We’ll see.
Deadlifting is the key to success!
Lea completely overhauled the culture at Vanderbilt. And in doing so, he discovered a love for deadlifting.
Part of his new-found passion for strength training actually stems from his eldest son. He spoke about the surprising discovery with Will Bartholomew on the first episode of The Turf: Powered By D1.
Clark Lea and his wife got their son involved with D1 Training in West Nashville around the age of 11 or 12. It was a decision focused on his future.
“I think it’s so healthy for young people to learn the basic movements and to build the basic foundation,” Lea said. “As long as they’re in the right hands, I think it’s a great thing for young people.”
His son’s excitement about weightlifting has also inspired his other two children. They are chomping at the bit to get in the gym and work toward their goal of a Division-I scholarship.
“He comes home to me and says ‘guess what I deadlifted today, dad,'” Lea said. “If you’re not talking to your kids about deadlifting, then I don’t know what you’re doing!”
Not only did Lea’s son inspire his siblings, he also inspired his dad.
Vanderbilt lives in the gym, including coaches.
Clark Lea realized that he cannot feel authentic when he asks his players to get in the best shape of their life if he is not also in the best shape of his life. And so that is exactly what he did!
“The season is high demand,” Lea said. “We ask so much of our players, I want to be a model for them in terms of exercise and discipline day-in and day-out.”
Consistency is key.
“Right now, it’s Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday mornings,” Lea said of his new routine. “We’ll go at six in the morning — seven thirty on Saturday — with our strength coach. It’s me, my chief of staff and our strength coach. And it’s not like bis and tris!”
Clark Lea and the most important member of his staff are in the gym, moving sleds and throwing medicine balls just like his players. That’s pretty cool.
“I’m probably in the best shape of my life right now,” he proudly declared to Bartholomew. “… I’ve complimented my [strength training] with some habits and routines outside of the gym that have put me in position to, what we say as a team is, play 17 games. We want to play 17 games and, to do that, we have to all take care of ourselves in that respect.”
Vanderbilt expects to start the season at 2-0 with wins over Charleston Southern and Virginia Tech. From there, they play at South Carolina before a rematch against Georgia State (who beat them last year) and a final tune-up game against Utah. And then it’s a grueling SEC gauntlet.
If things start to go south in a hurry, maybe Clark Lea will throw on a helmet and shoulder pads himself. He is more jacked than ever and ready to go!