By SUSAN JONES
The rapidly changing landscape of college athletics and how Pitt will handle it were the key themes in last week’s news conference introducing the Panthers’ new athletic director Allen Greene.
“In order for us to fulfill our responsibility to our young people, we have to accept that it’s a new world and do whatever we can now to make sure they’re successful in it,” Greene said at the Oct. 23 event at the Petersen Events Center. He said it’s hard to know where college athletics is heading next, “What may be true on a Monday is not true on a Friday.”
Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel, while acknowledging the success of Pitt Athletics under former athletic director Heather Lyke, said, “The times in which we find ourselves require a different approach. And when we engaged in our search and sought advice from the (search advisory) committee, we sought the skill set that aligned with where things were moving to, sort of along the lines of the Wayne Gretzky quote of looking to where the puck was going to be. And so we pursued a set of skills that aligned with the way in which things are moving.”
The issues Greene and Gabel were referring to involve name, image and likeness (NIL) deals that allow student-athletes to earn money in licensing or advertising; the transfer portal that allows student-athletes to move from school to school for the better deal; and the impending settlement in the House v. NCAA antitrust case.
The House case, in which there is a tentative settlement awaiting the judge’s ruling, will for the first time allow schools to pay student-athletes directly. Future college athletes would receive a portion of schools’ athletic revenue. The settlement also includes compensation to past athletes from 2017-2020.
All of these issues, and the potential that student-athletes may one day soon be considered employees, make the job of recruiting and retaining players more difficult and more expensive. Gabel said an overall sense of financial acumen “was a very high priority” in the search for a new athletic director, “but not at the expense of the culture of the department, or the alignment with centering students, or being able to find the competitiveness and the nature of being within a world class university.”
Greene, who is 47, said compared to his time as athletic director at the University of Buffalo from 2015-17, “It’s a completely different job.” Back then, he said the concerns were the cost of attendance and transfer regulations.
“I think managing all these new aspects is the biggest challenge for any leader,” he said. But Greene, who officially starts Nov. 1, believes he can help Pitt weather these changes, because, “I’ve sat in the chair. I’ve done it before at a pretty high level, so nothing rocks me. I might be surprised by certain things, but certainly I hopefully (provide) steady leadership and helping make sure that the staff understands what lies ahead, and just keeping people focused on the big picture.”
Greene’s resume also includes stints as athletic director at Auburn (2018-22), senior deputy athletics director at Mississippi (2022-23) and most recently, Tennessee (since December 2023), where he helped increase the athletics department’s annual revenue more than 30%.
Greene spoke on several topics during his introductory remarks and during the news conference that followed.
Why did he choose to come to Pitt? Greene cited the coaches and donors; the progressive nature of the city and the University on education, health care, innovation and technology; and Pitt’s links to the AAU. “Maybe most importantly for me at this stage of my career is leadership. Wanting to make sure that I have a leader and a colleague in the chancellor and in the Board of Trustees where we can make sure that we are aligned to do whatever we can that is in the best interest of the University of Pittsburgh. Athletics simply sits under the umbrella of the entire university, and our job is to make sure that we elevate the brand. Make sure that people, as I told our coaches today, respect Pitt the way that we deserve to be respected. That we market Pitt. The brand deserves to be at the upper echelon of higher education in this country.”
In this new age of the NIL and the transfer portal, why do you think that Pitt can not only survive but also thrive? This is a sports city, right? And there’s no more pride in many cities like this. And I think the Pitt community will answer the bell when we talk to them about the importance of talent acquisition, particularly through NIL. And as this rule changes, we’re going to continue to educate our folks in the community and help help them buy into our overall vision.
What can you as an athletic director do to cultivate NIL? Just communicating to the community how important it is. I think we’ve heard some of our coaches talk about how important NIL is, and it’s not them just being selfish. It’s the reality of the world that we’re in today. Without having the resources to acquire talent, then you’re basically putting your coaches in a (deficit) spot. So we want to make sure, and I want to tell the community directly, that NIL is going to be one of the top priorities that we have to make sure that our coaches have the resources they need to compete at the national level.
With NIL and athletes getting paid, how do you keep students’ focus on being students, not just athletes? I think that speaks to who we are as a University and the job that our coaches do in selling the University of Pittsburgh. This is not professional sports. I think we have to separate the fact that student-athletes getting paid versus professional sports. This is an institution of higher learning. This is the only place in the world where athletics is tethered to the academy. And so long as that is the case, we are going to make sure that academics is an emphasis and recruit the type of kids who understand and their families understand that academics plays an integral role in their personal development.
On the success and impact of non-revenue sports like No. 1 ranked women’s volleyball and men’s soccer: Well, it certainly makes people feel good. And I’m a product of one of those non-revenue sports (Greene was a three-year starter for the Notre Dame baseball team). I think we had maybe our parents and a couple girlfriends in the stands when I was playing baseball 100 years ago. So it definitely helps make people feel good. But we also know that football and men’s basketball are going to be the drivers, and I want to make sure that those programs are set up and built for success, not just in the conference but nationally.
On funding Victory Heights (the $240 million Arena and Sports Performance Center next to the Pete): I don’t have a full understanding of our full financial picture. I know enough to be a little bit dangerous. So once I spend time going through our balance sheet, it’ll give me a better understanding of what resources need to go where and how we best allocate those.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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