Pittsburgh athletic director Allen Greene is eager to take on challenges in the NIL era

Published Oct. 23, 2024 1:40 p.m. ET

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Allen Greene hasn't even started as the athletic director at Pittsburgh yet. That will come when he officially joins the Panthers on Nov. 1.

Still, men's basketball coach Jeff Capel made it very clear what he thinks should top his new boss' priority list.

“NIL and money,” Capel said Wednesday shortly after Greene was introduced to replace Heather Lyke, fired in early September with a few months remaining on her contract.

Greene, whose previous career stops include stints as athletic director at Auburn and the University of Buffalo, takes over a department enjoying success on the field while facing significant challenges off it.

The 19th-ranked football team is 6-0 and off to its best start since 1982 heading into a visit from Syracuse on Thursday night. The women's volleyball team is ranked No. 1. The men's soccer team has been a fixture in the top five all fall. Capel has raised expectations for the men's basketball program, which is coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in a decade.

Yet the rapidly evolving college sports landscape — particularly the ability for athletes to profit on their name, image and likeness (NIL) — has made fundraising more important than ever.

The Panthers have a deep alumni base but are also located in a city where professional sports can hog the spotlight, though Greene believes “the Pitt community will answer the bell when it comes to talent acquisition.”

Greene will also likely be tasked with raising money for Victory Heights, a $240 million facility that will serve as the home for the majority of the school's non-revenue sports, including women's gymnastics and wrestling. The athletic department has only raised a fraction of the money required to cover the cost of the ambitious project.

While Greene declined to get into specifics about how to address that issue, a few hundred yards away from where he was standing inside the Petersen Events Center, construction workers were noisily toiling on the new building.

Greene understands the challenges that await, noting he lives in a world where things are changing so quickly that what may be true on Monday might not be true on Friday.

Yet he has a message for those who doubt the Panthers can be fiscally competitive with their rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference and beyond.

“I hate losing more than I like winning,” he said. “We want to be successful. We are going to commit ourselves to being successful. ... For those people who don’t say it’s possible, go cheer for another school.”

Greene, a former baseball player at Notre Dame, said he understands that excelling in non-revenue sports is important but was blunt about which lights shine brightest on what Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel described as “the front porch” for the university.

“We also know that football and men’s basketball are going to be the drivers,” Greene said. “And I want to make sure that those programs are set up and built for success, not just in the conference but nationally.”

Greene oversaw a significant uptick in donor contributions while at Auburn from 2018-22 before he resigned with several months remaining on his contract. He's spent the last 10 months as the senior deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Tennessee.

Asked why he's been a successful fundraiser, Greene admitted it's a topic he was uncomfortable discussing while offering a slight correction.

“I don’t ask for money, never have," he said. "I explain a vision, express the vision and let the people enjoy the journey along with that vision.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll