Derek Mason comments on Vanderbilt's decision to commit to him for the 2020 season
Derek Mason will be back as the head coach of Vanderbilt next season, it was announced on Tuesday by athletic director Malcolm Turner, and the coach was able to respond to his boss’ comments soon afterward.
“I appreciate the support of Malcolm Turner and this university,” Mason said. “If you look at where we are, that’s not where we want to be. The standard is higher. We understand that. We will continue to work and grind. There’s football left in this season so for us we have to be squarely focused on where we are at, but to hear, to publicly have a statement go out about where I sit right now in terms of our season and what we’re doing, it’s a strong statement of support and I thank him.”
According to Mason, one of the biggest obstacles he faces is the number of resources that Vanderbilt has compared to the rest of the programs in the SEC.
“There’s a lot that factors into that, but when you look at it, recruiting in terms of where we are at, you talk about facilities,” Mason said. “You talk about understanding who we are and making sure we resource ourselves properly to give us the best chance to be our best Vanderbilt.”
Since taking over the Commodores’ job in 2014, Mason has had limited success, winning six games and taking the team to a bowl game twice (2016, 2018) but has never ended the season with a winning record. Things completely fell apart in 2019 as the SEC team currently stands 2-8 (1-6 SEC) with a loss to Purdue and UNLV adding onto the pain.
Despite a poor overall record, Mason has defeated in-state rival Tennessee three years in a row. That’s an achievement not seen in Nashville dating back to the 1920s.
Senior tight end Cody Markel says his coach is the right person to lead the program in the future.
“I know everyone on the team knows coach Mason is the man for the job,” Markel said. “This program will continue to get better.”
Overall, Mason’s record stands at 26-46 and 10-37 in conference play.
It will never happen but Clemson and Vanderbilt need to swap conferences.
Who could they get that’s better… Vandy’s issue is not coaching, its academics…
Exactly. Vandy is one of the four members in the SEC that’s a member of the elite Association of American Universities.
That’s only a part of it. They have no facilities or tradition, or fanbase for that matter. Duke, Stanford, and Northwestern have all managed multiple winning seasons since Vandy had their last one. Mason seems to be a nice and personable coach, but he hasn’t done anything to convince anyone that he is a good one.
I’ve wanted to give Mason the benefit of the doubt that he’s had very limited resources and staff at his disposal, but this is lame duck season. Vandy needs better leadership in the coming year(s) if they’re even going to think about seeing a bowl game.
But Vandy’s its own animal. I guess MSU’s the second-smallest enrollment in SEC, and they’re almost 3x Vandy’s. Plus recruitment is limited to kids who can get in and stay in a top 15 school. Sure jocks get special treatment but only so much. Always interesting when they manage some success, in football or more likely baseball and women’s bowling.
“We’ll continue to work & grind” ? Is that not what all under-performing, losing coaches say ? Oh yes, they say one more thing…”we’ll look at the tape and make adjustments”….yeah. Of course he’s content at remaining=$
keeps coming in. Another “D” coach that heads a losing program…note” Will Muschamp at South Carolina.