NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A champion of Vanderbilt’s mission to create sustained excellence across athletics, Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director Candice Story Lee is now an example of that staying power. Sports Business Journal named Lee among five finalists for Athletic Director of the Year, part of the 19th annual Sports Business Awards. She is the only leader nominated in each of the past two years.
Award recipients will be announced during a live event at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square on May 20.
The award recognizes excellence from March 1, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2026, a period in which Vanderbilt successfully doubled down on substantive growth on and off the field that had earned Lee a place among the finalists for the previous year’s award. An architect of Vandy United’s ongoing vision for athletics, she is the driving force behind Vanderbilt teams and student-athletes reimagining what is possible.
Athletic Excellence
- Under the direction of two-time SEC Coach of the Year and E. Bronson Ingram Chair in Football Clark Lea, 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.
- Lea received the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. 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 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.
- After winning the Tamika Catchings Award as the nation’s top freshman last season, included in SBJ’s judging period, Mikayla Blakes this season reached 1,000 career points faster than any player in the SEC’s NCAA history and helped women’s basketball go undefeated at home in the regular season for the first time.
- Named the Skip Prosser Man of the Year after men’s basketball reached the NCAA Tournament last spring, Mark Byington this season became the first coach in program history to win 20 games in each of his first two campaigns and led the Dores solidly into the Top 25 en route to the NCAA Tournament.
- 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 then 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 the NCAA doubles final, a first in program history. Mohr became the program’s first six-time All-American.
- 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).
- And just days before the close of the judging period, Janie Ford became the first freshman in conference history to win the pentathlon title at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
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 following 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 donor who is the parent of Vanderbilt students 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 reimagined 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 earlier this month announced a $300 million goal for Vandy United’s next chapter, including a Football Experience Center, a new soccer and lacrosse stadium and a reimagined Jess Neely Drive.
A Commodore for Life
Lee was a team captain, four-year letter winner, and five-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection as a student-athlete on the women’s basketball team and helped the Commodores win the 2002 SEC Tournament championship. The Triple Dore earned her bachelor’s degree in human and organizational development, master’s degree in counseling and doctorate in higher education administration.
A trailblazer, Lee became Vanderbilt’s first female athletic director and the first Black woman to head an SEC athletics program when named to the position in 2020 after more than two decades at the school as a student-athlete and administrator.
