Why Vanderbilt football has the darkest future of any program

Vanderbilt football has struggled greatly in recent memory, yet there is still virtually nothing positive for it to look forward to.

Within the college football community, it is common knowledge that the SEC is a death trap for all who encounter it; that is especially the case when the victims in question are the Vanderbilt Commodores.

For the sake of backstory, Vandy is one of the conference’s founding members, having been a loyal Southeastern football power since 1933. Between then and now, they have seen a season with eight wins or more on only six occasions. Their most recent time doing so was in 2013 — almost a decade ago — a year where they went 9-4 (a win count that they have only hit twice since 1933).

In other words, the Commodores being a punching bag is not exactly an unfamiliar phenomenon in the eyes of college football fans. However, could that unflattering image of them change anytime soon? Based on how things are looking today, no.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea will soon be entering what is only his second season with the program, and he seemingly hasn’t made a dent in their ongoing issues. This is mainly in regards to its 2021 run and the current state of its recruiting.

Last season, the Commodores went 2-10, with their pair of victories coming against Colorado State and UConn, respectively. The Rams (3-9) were a losing team despite playing at the Group of 5 level, while the Huskies (1-11) were easily one of the — if not the — worst schools in the FBS. But somehow, none of that stopped Vandy from still winning each battle by three points or less.

Although, it was Lea’s first season (both at Vanderbilt and as a head coach in general), and we’ve already covered just how rough of a job he’s got, so let’s not make a point of tearing into him for not doing too great just yet. Rather, we’ll just agree that it wasn’t too promising of a start for his era.

Speaking of which, his start should be deserving of more scrutiny when approaching the recent recruiting hauls that Vandy has snagged.

Recruiting also leaves little to rave about

As one can surely imagine, the Vanderbilt Commodores are not particularly dominant in the recruiting department, especially when considering the competition that they have in their league alone.

However, if a new head coach can’t make a good first impression with his team’s on-field performance, he can at least do something special in the offseason, right? Well, not exactly.

According to 247Sports, the Commodores are, once again, dead last in the SEC for recruiting. They did manage to lock down three four-stars and 25 three-stars for their 2022 haul, but even that wasn’t enough to get them out of the SEC basement. And if you can’t get a foot in the recruiting door now, you surely won’t be able to do so once Oklahoma and Texas join the party.

The only glimpse of hope that we saw was in 2021 when Vandy was ahead of South Carolina in the SEC rankings; that was proven to be strictly temporary, though, once Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer got settled in Columbia.

In fact, while we’re on the topic of divisional foes getting better, Tennessee has also shown flashes of potential as of late, courtesy of Josh Heupel. And did I mention that Kentucky just won 10 games, while Georgia is coming off of a national title?

The Vanderbilt Commodores are a team that one has great difficulty not feeling sorry for. But unfortunately, facts don’t care about feelings. And in this case, the facts are that their current state of competitiveness/recruiting, combined with the future of their league, gives them just about nothing to look forward to.