Auburn athletic director Allen Greene: Athletes are still students

Through all of the challenges currently facing college athletics, Auburn Tigers athletic director Allen Greene is still focusing on the student-athletes.

NIL and the transfer portal have created issues across the NCAA, resulting in some heated debates and some important conversations regarding the future of the industry. But the root of the problems should remain focused on the student athletes, at least in Greene’s eyes.

Greene recently joined The Paul Finebaum Show, where he said that he is “still holding out hope” that being both students and athletes is something that can continue to be prioritized, both at Auburn and everywhere else across the country.

“I think it’s an excellent question,” Greene said. “I do, I believe in the core tenants of being a student and an athlete. Getting your education and then pursuing your dreams athletically. I know that with NIL and with transfer deregulation and some of the litigation that’s happening in our industry, it appears and I see why people would be cynical. I’m still holding out hope for this industry making sure that we hold onto our young people being students and being athletes.”

Greene knows all about being a student-athlete, as he was a three-year starter on Notre Dame’s baseball team in the 1990s. He was a ninth-round pick in the 1998 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, and spent three years in the minor leagues before starting his journey as an administrator.

Greene, Auburn support NIL, but it has challenges

Greene made sure to point out that he is a big supporter of NIL, and that student-athletes deserve to be supported. But with the way things have gone since NIL was introduced, things have kind of turned into the “wild wild west.”

“Well, I think that’s part of the biggest challenges,” said Greene. “Different schools are interpreting things differently, as you mentioned. We’re working hard to be leaders in the industry and to support our student-athletes. I believe, like many of my peers have said, NIL in of itself is a really good thing, and we’re OK with that. It’s just bled into something that, quite frankly, we anticipated would happen without guardrails.

“And so now, we’re in this world where we’ve heard the terms, ‘wild wild west’ and free agency, and we feel the same thing. That’s just part of where we are and just continue to try to work through and get some clarity and the best we can.”