Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee signs five-year extension
Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee has been extended for a new five-year term that began July 1, 2023, the university announced in a release Friday.
A former women's basketball player with the Commodores, Lee has been the athletic director since May 2020. Her main accomplishment in the role has been spearheading Vandy United, a fundraising and facility upgrade campaign with work under way on projects in the end zones of FirstBank Stadium. Lee also helped to secure the naming rights deal for the stadium as well as to add volleyball as a new varsity sport.
Vanderbilt has also announced further Vandy United projects for the golf, tennis and baseball facilities as well as a new indoor practice field for the football team, though work on those projects has not yet begun.
Lee also hired Clark Lea as football coach, Shea Ralph as women's basketball coach and Althea Thomas as track and field coach.
“Candice Lee’s pathbreaking tenure at Vanderbilt has included the transformation of our athletics program through Vandy United and tremendous progress toward our goal of making Vanderbilt Athletics a second-to-none experience in all of college sports for our student-athletes, alumni and fans,” chancellor Daniel Diermeier said in a statement. “Candice embodies our university’s rich values and is a tireless advocate for our student-athletes’ success. I look forward to continuing our collaboration, with the goal of taking Vanderbilt Athletics to unparalleled new heights.”
Because Vanderbilt is a private school, the terms of Lee's current extension, as well as of her former contract, are not available. However, university tax records from 2021 showed that she made $948,464 during the 2021 calendar year.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee signs five-year extension
