Vespidae
Helluva Engineer
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- Auburn, AL
Sorry, but this post is disconnected from reality.I'm sure Greene is a good guy, and he has the backing of some well respected ADs around the country. The thing is, he misread the room when it came to Brian Harsin, and the culture fit between Harsin and Auburn.
I don't think ADs should be persuaded by donors to the extent they get rid of a candidate, but if you're in a room full of big donors that are adamant that Harsin is not the guy, you have to understand that Harsin is climbing up a mountain from Day 1. Now Harsin is fighting his own people (big donors) along with the rest of the SEC. Greene better be dang sure Harsin wins big immediately...and Harsin did not causing all of the drama forcing him to leave early.
Harsin also has always been a West Coast guy...he never coached East of the Mississippi River until Auburn. The closest he came was Arkansas State for 1 year, and Texas OC for 2 years. The culture fit, or ill fit, was pretty evident early from all reports.
If you're an SEC AD, football hires will be what you make your name on. The fact that Greene was willing to overlook some major concerns in his biggest hire is a reflection on his judgement. That's pretty important for an AD. Regardless of the kind of person he is, and by all accounts Greene is one of the good guys in the business, he failed pretty badly in his judgement for Harsin at Auburn. IMO, GT can't afford to overlook that kind of mistake for its AD.
Greene was all in on hiring Steele, which is who the Big Guns at Auburn wanted to hire. They were tired of Malzahn and engineered his ouster with the goal to replace with Steele.
It was Jay Gouge, AU President, who set up the search committee and basically forced Harsin onto Auburn. "Who?" was the response from the Auburn community?
Greene was boxed in with his contract renewal in limbo and a new President not yet announced. Very political. And very different from what is described above.