Derek Mason’s hot seat will wait at least one more season. Vanderbilt Athletics Director Malcolm Turner announced that the embattled coach would return in 2020.
“I want to make it very clear that Derek Mason will be our head football coach moving forward,” Turner tweeted. “Coach Mason has my full support and I am committed to working with him to ensure our football program has the necessary resources and support to succeed.”
Turner also issued a statement:
“We are in the midst of developing a new and robust athletic strategic plan with the vision to put the football program and all of our varsity sports in a position to win on and off the field of play. Coach Mason is committed to leading Vanderbilt’s football program the right way and we will move forward in that spirit together.”
The Commodores are in the midst of a tough season as they’ve dealt with a host of injuries, especially at quarterback. They are 2-8 with wins over Northern Illinois and Missouri. This is the sixth season for Mason, a former Stanford defensive coordinator, who is 26-46 at Vandy. He has yet to post a winning season and his two best seasons were with six wins, in 2016 and 2018.
On Saturday, after a loss to Kentucky, Mason spoke about the job.
“I think, collectively, there’s a lot of talent here. Vanderbilt is always going to go on waves. It just is,” Mason told reporters. “There’s going to be cycles of bowl teams and opportunities. It’s not going to be an every year opportunity unless these guys get it young and we hit it hot. I mean, there’s going to be waves and cycles in this deal, and I’m just in a wave right now, just a wave and cycle where we’re not where we wanna be. We’ve just got to continue to keep pushing.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
