Vanderbilt athletic director Malcolm Turner resigned Tuesday after only one year at the school.
Turner came to Vanderbilt from the NBA’s G League, where he served as president for more than four years. Vanderbilt on Tuesday named deputy athletic director Candice Lee, a former women’s basketball captain at the school, as interim AD. Lee becomes Vanderbilt’s first female athletic director and the first black woman to lead an SEC athletic department.
In a prepared statement, Turner cited “certain family commitments” and “new opportunities” as reasons for his resignation. Sources said Vanderbilt’s financial approach and spending under Turner, a first-time college athletic director, escalated tension in recent weeks and led to Tuesday’s split.
During his year at Vanderbilt, Turner replaced basketball coach Bryce Drew with Jerry Stackhouse. He retained football coach Derek Mason after a disappointing 2019 season, saying the focus had to be on building greater infrastructure for the program. Lee has been heavily involved in Vanderbilt’s strategic plan for athletics, which the school said should be announced in the next few weeks. She has served as Vanderbilt’s senior woman administrator since 2004, and has been the lead sport administrator for football and women’s basketball. Lee has earned three degrees from Vanderbilt.
“Candice is a trailblazer,” Vanderbilt provost and interim chancellor Susan Wente said in a prepared statement. “Her unparalleled work ethic, energy and vision, and steadfast commitment to the Commodore family, will only build on our momentum.”