It was announced on Friday that Allen Greene is out as Auburn’s athletic director.
Greene released a statement that says he’s “stepping away” from the university to begin a new chapter.
“The decision to step away from Auburn athletics is not an easy one, but it is the right time for me to begin the next step in my professional journey,” Greene said, via ESPN. “I am very proud of the work that we have done together to move our athletics program forward.”
Shortly after this news broke, former Duke athletic director Kevin White issued a statement on Auburn’s “utterly shameful” decision.
“For what it’s worth, the announcement via Auburn University today is terribly disturbing to say the very least, perhaps closer to utterly shameful,” White said. “The apparent political dysfunction within Auburn is truly legendary. More specifically, this particular leadership transition, unequivocally, ascends Auburn to the ‘cat bird’ seat, in terms of being ‘tone deaf,’ nationally.
“Of course, Allen and Christy Greene, and their beautiful family, will undoubtedly take the high road, for Allen is among the classiest and most talented individuals, in terms of emotional, intellectual, and decency competence, who drips with integrity, while standing on a non-negotiable, high moral and ethical (everyday) platform. Allen is clearly a ‘rockstar’ leader within the broader college athletics landscape! Therefore, this is clearly a ‘death blow’ moment, as the greater enterprise of college athletics swirls via unprecedented chaos!”
Clearly, White isn’t on Auburn’s side when it comes to this matter.
Greene was in the final year of his contract. He negotiated his release with Auburn earlier today.
There’s no timetable as to when Auburn will hire a new athletic director. What we do know, however, is that there’ll be a lot of pressure on the school’s decision-makers to find the best possible candidate.