NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will be under the direction of a new voice for the remainder of the 2020 season – but the mission remains the same.
Offensive coordinator Todd Fitch will serves as the program’s interim head coach moving forward as Vandy continues to fight for its first win of the season. Vanderbilt University announced Sunday it had parted ways with former head coach Derek Mason after 82 games with the Commodores.
“Everything I have focused on and our staff has focused on is really about the players, giving our players the best experience we can and really developing the team to go out and play the best football they can,” Fitch said Monday. “Everything we’re doing as a coaching staff and support staff in the building is making this the best experience for these guys that we can.”
In more than 35 years of coaching, Fitch has never walked the sidelines as a head coach before. The former all-conference defensive back at Ohio Wesleyan began his career as a professional in 1986 and has coached nearly every offensive position group through his long career that has included stops across the country from Connecticut to Colorado.
Fitch’s first shot at pacing the field as a head coach comes at 3 p.m. CT Saturday when the Commodores face No. 11 Georgia.
“I’ve coached a long time and been around some great coaches. That has been a great reference point for me,” he said. “I talked to some people (Sunday) night who have been interim coaches that I’ve seen do it and I just said, ‘Hey, give me some tips and pointers,’ and that sort of thing.
“Obviously excited about it. It’s a challenging time for us for a lot of reasons. But it’s an opportunity, an opportunity to grow and I just want, at the end of the day, to walk out of this thing and get a win or two for the program and learn from the experience.”
Fitch came to Nashville after four seasons at Louisiana Tech, where he directed one of the nation’s top offensive attacks. His system has shown glimpses of brilliance through eight games in 2020 while Fitch has worked primarily with two true freshmen quarterbacks, a relatively newly-formed offensive line and a talented and young group at the skill positions.
After a relatively slow start, Vandy scored at least 17 points in four straight games before being shutout 41-0 at Missouri on Saturday.
On Sunday, Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee announced the decision to make Fitch the interim coach in Mason’s absence. She credited some of the team’s successes in 2020 were in correlation with Fitch’s efforts.
“I felt very comfortable in naming Todd Fitch as the (interim) head coach,” Lee said Monday. “Part of that is just my own observation in watching him in how he’s carried himself, but also (Mason) and I have talked a lot about the strengths of this staff and I knew what Todd brought to the table.”
The Commodores (0-8, 0-8 SEC) are scheduled to return to the practice field Tuesday morning as they begin preparations for the Bulldogs (6-2, 6-2 SEC). It will be their first practice under Fitch’s direction during a season which has truly been unlike any other.
Fitch said he expects the student-athletes on the current roster to continue giving their all, something which he has seen them do through the first eight games of the season. And he said that story is the one that needs to be told when the book closes on 2020.
“Everybody has their challenges this year, every team, every conference – it’s well-documented,” Fitch said. “We’ve had guys out with injuries or opt out. People are talking about, ‘We’re down to this number or we only have this number,’ well every week we’re like that. And no excuses – I give coach Mason credit, he never spoke about that. He never came in and privately complained about it. We buckled up and went out and played.
“Over the last month the kids grew up every week and played hard and gained confidence. Sometimes people lose sight of the guys that have been out here battling every day, especially the linemen who are in trenches and banging every day and playing against the best people in the country. I don’t think that story has been told enough, honestly.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com. Follow him @MrChadBishop.
