NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee was honored Wednesday as Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year during the annual Sports Business Awards in New York. Amid unprecedented change in college athletics, Lee oversaw a historic year of individual and collective competitive success and game-changing philanthropic and community support.
The first Vanderbilt athletic director to receive the award, Lee is also the school’s third administrator or coach to win national honors during the 2025–26 year. She joins two head coaches she brought to Vanderbilt: E. Bronson Ingram Chair in Football and two-time SEC Coach of the Year Clark Lea, recipient of the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, and women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph, the AP, Naismith, USBWA and WBCA Coach of the Year.
Recently named the 2026 Tennessean of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, Lee was the only returning finalist for this year’s SBJ award, indicative of the sustained success across 17 varsity sports that has galvanized the Vanderbilt community. She is a Triple Dore and celebrates her 30th anniversary as a Vanderbilt student-athlete and administrator in 2026.
The award recognizes excellence from March 1, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2026. Vanderbilt’s success during that period, and continuing unabated through men’s golf winning the NCAA Athens Regional and heptathlete Marta Sivina bringing home an SEC championship, exemplifies the university’s redoubled commitment to create a championship environment and the years of planning and investment that Lee spearheaded through Vandy United and similar efforts.
Athletic Excellence
- Under Lea’s direction, football won 10 games for the first time in the program’s 135-year history and entered the top 10 in the AP poll for the first time since 1937.
- Quarterback Diego Pavia was Vanderbilt’s first Heisman finalist and won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, among many honors, and Eli Stowers won the William V. Campbell Trophy® as college football’s top scholar-athlete and the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end.
- Shortly before playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl, football signed quarterback Jared Curtis, the nation’s top-ranked recruit.
- Undefeated at home in the regular season for the first time in program history, Ralph’s basketball juggernaut set program records by winning its first 20 games overall and first six SEC games this season, ultimately advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
- Sophomore Mikayla Blakes was honored as Vanderbilt’s first SEC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year in 24 years and a consensus All-American, and she was the program’s first Academic All-America first-team honoree in 28 years.
- Additionally, Aubrey Galvan was SEC Freshman of the Year, and Ralph was SEC Coach of the Year, making Vanderbilt the first school in 12 years to sweep those awards.
- Named the 2025 Skip Prosser Man of the Year during the SBJ judging period, Mark Byington subsequently became the first men’s basketball coach in program history to win 20 games in each of his first two campaigns. This season, he led the Dores to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a No. 19 ranking in the final AP poll, matching the team’s best showing in the past 33 years.
- The VandyBoys won the 2025 SEC Tournament, their fourth under legendary head coach Tim Corbin and the fifth tournament title in program history. Vanderbilt earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
- Soccer won the 2025 SEC Tournament, the second tournament title in six years under head coach Darren Ambrose. Behind SEC Goalkeeper of the Year Sara Wojdelko and SEC Forward of the Year Sydney Watts, the Dores earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Elite Eight for the first time.
- Tennis standouts Célia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster reached last fall’s NCAA doubles final, a first in program history, while head coach Aleke Tsoubanos’ team recently progressed to an NCAA Super Regional for the second time in three years.
- Men’s tennis and men’s golf each signed the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class.
- Leveraging collaboration across the university to stage a unique event, volleyball returned for the first time in 45 years in a nationally televised home opener played outdoors on Wyatt Lawn (which also hosted ESPN College GameDay later in the fall).
- Janie Ford became the first freshman in conference history to win the pentathlon title at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships, while Sivina gave the Dores their second heptathlon champion in the past four years outdoors.
Strengthening the Vanderbilt Community
- Mirroring the football team’s on-field growth, a fully reimagined FirstBank Stadium welcomed fans to new south end zone premium seating after completion of the south end zone project. Drawing in the Nashville community, Vanderbilt sold out six home games in 2025.
- Construction began on Hawkins Field enhancements designed to set a standard for fan experience every bit as revered as Corbin’s on-field standard of excellence.
- This past winter, an anonymous Vanderbilt parent made a gift to endow the baseball head coaching position, honoring Corbin’s contributions and legacy. Under Lee, Vanderbilt has seen 300 percent growth in endowed coaching positions.
- In February, Vanderbilt launched Anchored for Her with an initial $50 million goal. Part of Vandy United, Anchored for Her seeks to make the university the premier destination for women’s sports through wide-ranging investment in facilities and people. Vanderbilt trustees Nina Kohler and Kathleen Justice-Moore, JD’91, made lead gifts, with the latter endowing the Candice Storey Lee Scholarship.
- Also in February, men’s and women’s tennis began competing in the redesigned outdoor facilities at the Lummis Family Tennis Center, one of Vandy United’s early flagship projects.
- And already building a case for next year’s award, Lee recently announced a $300 million goal for Vandy United’s next chapter, which includes a Football Experience Center, a new soccer and lacrosse stadium and a reimagined Jess Neely Drive.
