SBJ 360: Why Vandy’s Storey Lee is AD of the Year – Sports Business Journal

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There’s a vividness in Vanderbilt Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee’s retelling of the night the Commodores football slayed the giant, a 40-35 victory against Alabama.
The 2024 win was a start. Consider it a proof-of-concept moment for Lee, 46, an administrator hired amid the COVID-19 pandemic by a school that was part of the SEC but never really competitive. The Commodores football team now enters this fall off its only 10-win season in school history. Vanderbilt’s basketball teams won first-round NCAA Tournament games under head coaches hired by Lee. Hundreds of millions of dollars in facility projects have been completed during her tenure. And then, of course, there’s the more than $300 million fundraised through athletics, and the university’s broader efforts to modernize Vanderbilt’s infrastructure.
That lengthy recent résumé is why Lee was named Sports Business Journal’s 2026 Athletic Director of the Year. But those closest to her, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy writes, will tell you the accomplishments are about more than a singular moment or deal that crossed the line.
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