Last August, Adam Sparks’ excellent piece of investigative journalism into the workings of the Vanderbilt Athletic Department completely changed the conversation about Vanderbilt athletics, and specifically Vanderbilt football. The tenor of said conversation went from “Vanderbilt has a tough time competing in the SEC” to “Vanderbilt really isn’t even trying here.” That was something that a lot of people who follow the program closely had suspected for a while, but Adam really put that out in the open for everyone both inside and outside of the Vanderbilt community to hear.
With few answers forthcoming from then-Chancellor Nick Zeppos or then-Vice Chancellor David Williams, Sparks began calling up members of the Board of Trust, and Williams’ sudden retirement followed shortly thereafter.