Vanderbilt's breakout season in football followed by a March Madness double act – Newsday

Vanderbilt guards Aubrey Galvan (3) and Mikayla Blakes, right, celebrate the teams win after an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP/George Walker IV
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There's a certain vibe on the Vanderbilt campus that's been a long time coming for the Southeastern Conference's smallest and only private university.
Winning.
Football just turned in the best season in program history led by the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Now the men's and women's basketball programs are rolling into the NCAA Tournament with high expectations for the first time in years.
It's contagious and the Commodores are each others' biggest cheerleaders.
“There's so much synergy and just a great chemistry with all the athletic programs here," men’s coach Mark Byington said. "And we cheer so hard for each other and we have each other's back and we know what each other's going through and we share success.”
Credit the hiring decisions by athletic director Candice Storey Lee luring Shea Ralph to Vanderbilt in 2021 to take over the moribund women's program and Byington less than two years ago for a men's team that had missed the NCAA Tournament seven straight years. She was AD when Vandy hired football coach Clark Lea, too.
The hiring decisions have paid off.
Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles (2) celebrates a three point basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arkansas in the final of the Southeastern Conference tournament Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP/George Walker IV
Byington is in his second season hired three days after leading No. 12 seed James Madison to a first-round NCAA Tournament win. His 16th-ranked Commodores (26-8) have matched the most wins in Vanderbilt history going into this tournament, first done by the 1992-93 Commodores and matched by the 2007-08 squad.
The men also have a No. 5 seed that is the program’s highest since 2012 when Vanderbilt last won the Southeastern Conference Tournament title. They play McNeese on Thursday in Oklahoma City in the South Region.
Ralph arguably had a tougher challenge taking over a program that not only had a nine-year NCAA drought but was coming off a pandemic-shortened season of only eight games in 2020-21. The progress hasn't been nearly as fast as the coach who wants to win every game would like.
“I also understand the value of delayed gratification and how much hard work goes into something that’s really great to have,” Ralph said.
Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph, right, talks to guard Mikayla Blakes, center, and others during a timeout in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., Sunday, March 1, 2026. Credit: AP/Wade Payne
In her fifth season, Ralph has the women seeded No. 2. That's their highest since 2007, and the sixth-ranked Commodores also are hosting NCAA games for the first time since 2012. The women, who reached the only Final Four for either Vanderbilt hoops’ program in 1993, are trying to reach their first Sweet 16 since 2009.
Her Commodores are 27-4 for the most wins in the regular season in school history, including tying for second in the SEC matching the program's best finish in league play.
“She’s built it from the ground up, step by step, brick by brick," said graduate forward Sacha Washington, who has been here for all of Ralph's tenure.
Updated facilities also matter. Vanderbilt invested through its Vandy United fund to build the Huber Center, which features separate floors for both basketball programs complete with separate full-sized courts, locker rooms, meeting rooms and other space a few steps from Memorial Gym.
Ralph says there is no place else she would want to be thanks to Vanderbilt's resources in leadership, people and facilities helping her build this program. She sees all the hard work as a reminder that achieving great things takes hard work, perseverance, determination and commitment.
“If it were easy, lots of other people would be doing it," Ralph said. "It’s not. But the people that I have have committed to it, and you’re getting to see the results now.”
Byington has had to recruit and stock much of his roster each of his two seasons, including bringing in 11 new players this season.
That included guard Duke Miles as a sixth-year graduate transfer from Oklahoma. He is finally healthy after dealing with a knee injury and he turned in a season-high 30 points in a SEC Tournament quarterfinal win.
Byington also has AP All-SEC guard Tyler Tanner teaming with Miles for a potent backcourt.
The combination took the Commodores from watching the NCAA bracket announcement hoping to hear Vanderbilt a year ago to knowing a berth was waiting.
“It’s just a huge testament to the coaching staff and Coach Byington for making this team and this program a tournament team," said Tanner, a sophomore who grew up in the Nashville area. "I know for some years there was no hope there. And he’s just done a great job recruiting the right guys and the right players.”
Ralph also has a star sophomore guard in Mikayla Blakes, the nation's leading scorer averaging 27 points a game. Blakes came to Vanderbilt to help Ralph build the program, and she was the only starter returning from last season.
All that matters to Ralph is Saturday night's game against No. 15 seed High Point in the Forth Worth Region 1, which features her old coach and boss Geno Auriemma at UConn as the top overall seed. It's too soon to think about that.
“It’s a one-game season," Ralph said.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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