On Wednesday evening, Vanderbilt Football fired offensive coordinator Joey Lynch.
“We had a season where our results and performance fell short of our expectations,” head coach Clark Lea said. “When that is the case, change is necessary. My background as a defensive coordinator will allow me to best serve our team by taking on that responsibility.”
Lynch was the offensive coordinator for the Commodores in 2022 and 2023 and was the quarterbacks coach in 2021. In 2023, Vanderbilt ranked last in the SEC in total offense with 318.92 total yards. The Commodores also ranked 110th in FBS with 22.8 points per game.
It was also announced on Wednesday that defensive coordinator Nick Howell would be demoted to be the defensive backs coach. Lea will take over defensive coordinator duties.
This season, the Commodores ranked 125th in FBS in passing yards allowed per game (279.6). Vanderbilt allowed a Tennessee team that averages 250.92 passing yards per game to throw for 449 yards last Saturday.
Defensive quality control coach Jamal Richardson will be promoted to an assistant coach role and defensive backs coach Dan Jackson will be demoted to an “off-field role”.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Edmund Leigh • Dec 1, 2023 at 12:43 pm CST
Been watching Vanderbilt football since 1974 and we need better guidance and new ideas for the offense. We were very poor on 3rd down efficiency. We had too many 3rd and long situations and that is when the opposing defense swarmed with blitzes to overwhelm the O line and the VU QB. Also I was amazed on how many time the receivers dropped passes when Seals and the other QB’s hit the receiver in the hands. I mean C’mon. There was a certain amount of zeal that was missing. The Vandy QB’s are talented to compete in the SEC but something was missing in their zeal. And of course Vandy football players are scholar athletes whereas many of the other SEC players are there mainly for football. I did R & D projects with the Engineering Dept at the University of Florida for 3 years and when I asked a couple of the Professors there if they ever had a Florida football player take their classes ever they just laughed at my question. That said it all.