⚡ CFB Dashboard

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea shakes hands with fans as he hugs quarterback Diego Pavia (2) after the team’s win against Kentucky at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (Photo: Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)   NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Sportswriters Association announced the coach and player of the year awards Monday, and Vanderbilt football took both. Coach Clark Lea and quarterback Diego Pavia claimed both awards after the best Vanderbilt football season in program history. The Commodores finished the 2025 season with a 10-3 record and a top-15 finish in the final rankings. Lea was named the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year as well as the SEC Coach of the Year. He was a 2025 finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant, George Munger, AFCA and Walter Camp Coach of the Year Awards as well as the Dodd Trophy. Vanderbilt also went undefeated at home and picked up wins over SEC opponents LSU, Missouri, Auburn and Kentucky at FirstBank Stadium. Heisman runner-up Pavia led the team on the field week after week and helped turn this program in the right direction. Pavia was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, and CBS Sports selected him as its national Player of the Year in 2025.  He was voted the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner and was a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, Maxwell Player of the Year and Manning Awards. Pavia accounted for 4,401 combined yards through the air and on the ground and scored 39 touchdowns. These two have been at the forefront of changing the program's direction and perception, and under Lea Vanderbilt football is on an upward trajectory. The program has a different buzz around it, and no one notices more than Lea. "More people are interested in what we're doing," Lea said at the beginning of spring camp. "They're paying attention, and it feels really good that our program is becoming respected. The perception shifts happen on the back end of results, and what drove those results is day-in, day-out investment independent of whatever external opinion is or isn't. So we won't change who we are. What is outside of us will change based off who we are, but we need to be who we are every day."