By SUSAN JONES
In the year since Allen Greene became Pitt’s athletic director, the world of college sports has changed in ways he never could have imagined when his career began in the early 2000s.
But with all the talk about paying players, transfer portals and name, image and likeness deals, Greene said that at its core, college athletics is still and should be focused on the students.
“I am a product of an industry that prided itself on helping young people be better than they thought that they could be,” said the former three-year starter on the Notre Dame baseball team. “And if we find ourselves where that is no longer the case, then I’ll go coach Little League.”
With the House vs. NCAA settlement ruling earlier this year, some outside of college sports have asked if student athletes are now professionals or should be considered employees.
The settlement allows colleges to pay current players directly for use of their name, image and likeness, with a cap of $20.5 million per school for the 2025-26 academic year. It also includes $2.8 billion to pay past players who missed out on earning money from NIL deals between 2016 and 2024.
Greene said he understands why those who are not around student athletes all the time could view college athletics as a business, and student athletes as professionals, but he disagrees.
“There’s more business activity than there has been in the past, particularly from a leadership perspective,” he said. “There’s more interest from the public in the business activities that are happening in college athletics, but I contend that our student athletes are not employees. I contend that this is not professional sports. …
“We are here to educate and develop young people, and we’re blessed that we get to utilize support to do so.”
Chancellor Joan Gabel said in an earlier interview that Greene is “the right guy at the right time” for his role. “Having someone who really cares about that department in the leadership role, but that department in the context of everything the University does in the classroom or in research is critically important, and that’s how Allen is.”
She said Greene has become a valued member of her cabinet. “He asks really good questions. He’s developing strategies intended to make sure that we’re excellent and competitive, as we want every aspect of the University to be, but in the context of the overall needs of the University, and that’s our approach in general.”
Greene sat down with the University Times late last month for an in-depth talk about issues confronting Pitt Athletics and college sports in general. This week’s article covers fundraising, coaching, Pitt fans and that nagging question about the turf at Acrisure Stadium, among other issues. Look for Greene’s responses to questions about the House settlement and all the changes facing college sports in the Nov. 21 University Times.
On the Pitt fan base:
“If you’re a Pitt fan, you’re a loyal Pitt fan,” Greene said, noting that the city also has many fans of professional sports teams. “All in all, Pittsburghers are sports fans, and if you’re winning, they will support you. That’s what I have found. Our jobs are to give them, to give our community, a product that they want to see and to give our alums something to be proud of, and our community something to be proud of.”
On keeping the focus on students:
“We engage with our young people every single day, and because we’re fortunate enough to do that, we see them as young men and women who need leadership, who want leadership, who want accountability, who want to be better tomorrow than they were today, and who embrace the challenge of wanting to get better.”
Later in the interview, he once again stressed the development of student-athletes, particularly at Pitt.
“Here, at least, there is still a premium placed on the holistic development of our young people. And Pitt’s an awesome place to be because of that.”
On raising money:
Greene said he and his team need to “be in the streets and amongst our donor base, our fan base, our alumni base and engage with them,” as well as educate them about the department’s “vision of the future and where our priorities are.”
Pitt Athletics is currently looking for a new executive associate athletic director for philanthropy and engagement. Lee Roberts, who had been in the position since 2021, left to go to his alma mater, University of North Carolina.
Greene stressed that one of the messages that donors need to hear is that “football is incredibly important to the success, not just of our athletics department,” but to the University and to the region and state.
“Football is our number one priority,” he said. “We want all of our student athletes to have a dynamic experience while they’re at Pitt, and in order for us to be able to do that at the level we desire, it requires football to be successful.
“What requires football to be successful is you have to have the right people in place, but you also have to have the resources for them to be able to fulfill their obligations in a way that we expect them to. And there’s always a shortage of resources.”
Donors and fans have an opportunity to have a tremendous impact, he said. “And it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. It can be whatever someone wants it to be, but the fact that there’s participation is important, and we’ve had record-breaking participation this last 12 months, and we’ve raised record amounts of money in the last 12 months, and we want to continue that growth.”
In July, Pitt Athletics reported the Panther Club had its most successful fundraising year to date, driven by the largest number of donors in Pitt Athletics history (16,063) and more than $19.9 million in total cash contributions. Panther Club membership has grown an average of 22% annually the past five years, rising from just over 7,000 donors in fiscal year 2021 to more than 16,000 this past year. In addition, 74 major gifts of $50,000 or more were secured.
On what coaching means today:
Greene said college football is currently in the “silly season,” with a plethora of head coaches losing their jobs — from Penn State’s James Franklin to the leaders of the Florida, Louisiana State and Auburn teams.
“Every fan base wants to win, every head football coach wants to win, every athletic director wants to win. I think there, at times, are unrealistic expectations, and unless you’re in it, I don’t know that everyone has a full understanding of how difficult it is not just to win, but to sustain that level of success.”
The skill set needed to be a good coach, particularly in football, has really expanded beyond knowing just Xs and Os on the playing field and how to recruit well, hire good staff and manage growing organizations. In addition, the teams are now often changing dramatically every year, because of the transfer portal.
“You’re constantly looking for new members for the team,” Greene said, so coaches need to be able to “understand where (the student-athletes) are, meet them where they are, and find a way to get them to where you want them to be, and doing all those at the same time.” All while having parents, agents and people on social media demanding attention.
A coach can be good at 98% of these skills and not so good at the rest, and fans may call for them to be fired.
Greene pointed out that firing a coach is “a costly endeavor” — fired LSU Coach Brian Kelly’s contract calls for a $54 million buyout; Penn State’s Franklin could get a $50 million buyout.
In addition, finding someone with the expanded skill set needed — particularly with all the big time programs looking for coaches — is very challenging. “There aren’t enough good coaches to be able to fill all those spots. So then what’s going to happen in three or four years? We’re going to see the same cycle again,” Greene said.
On Victory Heights:
Since it was announced in early 2020, there have been questions about how Pitt would pay for the Victory Heights project, which originally included three new facilities for non-revenue sports. The name is now often used to describe the only facility that’s been built — the Arena and Sports Performance Center next to the Petersen Events Center.
In 2020, then-Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said that the University would pay through debt financing, and simultaneously be raising money through donations to offset the cost. But both he and Heather Lyke, the athletic director that Greene replaced last year, said that the project was not contingent on a certain percentage being raised from donors
Greene is a bit baffled about why questions are still being raised about this as the building is about to open.
“Five years ago, the University, under two previous administrations, both institutional and athletics, made a decision that going forward with Victory Heights was the right thing to do for our institution,” he said.
Athletics responsibility now, he said, is to “generate revenue for the success of our athletics department. If there are opportunities for that to go toward Victory Heights, great. If there are opportunities for that to go to some other priority, great.
“But ultimately, Victory Heights is a campus asset that the campus believed was an important asset of the total University portfolio.”
Athletics staff will start moving into the sports performance space in December and January. Greene said the arena — which will be used by volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, cheer and dance — will go through a few soft openings before the official debut, and he’s not sure yet when that will be.
On the Acrisure Stadium turf:
Pitt football shares Acrisure Stadium with the Steelers, and some have complained that the multiple college games have taken a toll on the turf, making it dangerous for the NFL players.
“Everybody loves a good storyline,” Greene said. “So I’m not surprised that caught legs.”
But he said the bonds between the Steelers and Pitt remain strong.
“I would say the Steelers and the (Pitt) athletics department have an outstanding relationship with one another, and we are tremendous partners.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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