Pitt hires former Auburn athletic director Allen Greene to take over as AD

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh has hired Allen Greene as its new athletic director.

The university made the announcement. Greene replaces Heather Lyke, who was fired in early September with a few months remaining on her contract.

Greene, currently a senior deputy athletics director at Tennessee, will start on Nov. 1. Greene previously served as the athletic director at Auburn from 2018-22.

“In Allen Greene, we have a proven national leader who exemplifies the Pitt way, and who has all of the experience and intangibles to elevate our athletics program in competition and in the classroom,” Pitt chancellor Joan Gabel said in a statement.

Greene will take over a department in the midst of a successful sports season. The football team is ranked 20th in the country and at 6-0 is off to its best start since 1982. The women’s volleyball team is currently No. 1 and the men’s soccer team is No. 4.

The Panthers also have their challenges off the field. The university is currently in the midst of a capital project called “Victory Heights” that will eventually house more than a dozen of the school’s Olympic sports, including gymnastics and wrestling. The $240 million project has struggled to find independent funding.

“It was apparent from my very first conversation with Chancellor Gabel that Pitt has the highest of aspirations in every endeavor it undertakes,” Greene said in a statement. “That’s tremendously energizing to me and a challenge I fully embrace.”