Candice Storey Lee
Vanderbilt’s Candice Storey Lee has been nominated for the Sports Business Journal’s athletic director of the year award.
The website’s four other nominees in that category are Indiana’s Scott Dolson, Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt, Utah’s Mark Harlan and Western Michigan’s Dan Bartholomae.
Candice Storey Lee
The winner will be announced May 20 at the 2026 Sports Business Awards event in New York.
Nashville-based Creative Arts Agency was nominated as a finalist in two categories — best in talent representation and best in property consulting, sales and client services.
Lee was named Vanderbilt’s athletic director six years ago, becoming the first female athletic director in the SEC and the first black woman to lead an SEC athletics program.
The Sports Business Journal listed several reasons for Lee’s nomination:
• She was a driving force in the completion of the Huber Center, a new basketball operations center (new locker rooms, weight rooms and training rooms) and practice facility; renovations to the team facilities at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, home to the school’s men’s and women’s golf teams; and the FirstBank Stadium north and south end zone projects.
With the south end zone premium seating completed, Vanderbilt sold out six home football games in 2025.
• Construction on Vanderbilt’s baseball facility, Hawkins Field, began in October 2025, and plans were also put in place that year to renovate the outdoor facilities at the Lummis Family Tennis Center.
• Lee led major fundraising drives, such as the recent endowment of the baseball head coaching position. Other initiatives included launching the Anchored for Her campaign — part of the broader Vandy United efforts — that has an initial goal of $50 million to make the university a premier destination for women’s sports.
The 2025-26 season was quite a successful one for Vanderbilt athletics, as the football team produced a school-record 10 wins, both basketball programs advanced to the NCAA Tournament, the baseball team was ranked No. 1 (in 2025), the women’s soccer team reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, and women’s volleyball returned as a varsity sport for the first time in 45 years.
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