Dear Commodore Nation,
Tomorrow, the No. 12-ranked Commodores will take on Kentucky at FirstBank Stadium in the final regular-season home football game of a fall none of us will ever forget. Tonight, our soccer team will host Clemson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with hopes of advancing to the Sweet 16 for the second season in a row. In Memorial Gymnasium, our men’s and women’s basketball teams continue their blistering start to the season. At Hawkins Field, the reigning SEC Tournament champion VandyBoys used fall ball as the foundation for their next unforgettable spring. And our highly ranked bowlers are again on a roll, building on their championship tradition. Meanwhile, the nation’s top-ranked recruiting classes in men’s golf and men’s tennis wait for the weather to warm again.
Our shared vision for what is possible for Vanderbilt Athletics has become real. And we are here at this incredible moment—the most successful, inspiring and thrilling year across our 17 varsity sports that any of us have witnessed—because so many of you joined us four years ago in declaring that the time had come for unity, investment and shared purpose. It started with Vandy United, our joint commitment to excellence.
Since launching that bold $300 million campaign in 2021, now part of the university’s Dare to Grow campaign, we’ve seen our alumni, fans, donors, parents, former student-athletes, faculty, staff and friends step forward time and again to be part of the future we envision. Of a place where student-athletes are truly students first, leaning into incredible learning opportunities to broaden their understanding on and off the field and prepare for lives of true meaning and impact. Where they train and compete in facilities that set the standard for the nation—facilities that, through the generosity of donors, now include the Frist Athletics Village, the Huber Center, widely regarded as a best-in-class basketball training facility, the north and south end zones of FirstBank Stadium, where new premium seating immediately sold out and a new locker room left our student-athletes speechless with pride, and the Anthony Family Golf Team House.
