Greg Byrne Calls Alabama ‘Home’ Amid Pac-12 Speculation

Larry Scott has been the Pac-12 commissioner for the last 11 years but his tenure in charge of the West Coast league will be concluding in June. The league will undoubtedly search far and wide for its next commissioner as leading one of the Power 5 conferences is a prestigious position.

It's easy to construe Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne as one of the potential top candidates for the position given his education, job history and success rate. Byrne went to school at Arizona State and spent time in Pac-12 athletic departments Oregon, Oregon State and Arizona.

“It’s certainly flattering to be mentioned for such a prestigious position,” Byrne to Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News when discussing the possible position. “Regina and I grew up in the Pac-12 footprint and have many friends and fond memories out there. However, the University of Alabama has become our home and it is an honor to work here with our incredible student-athletes, coaches, staff, university and fans."

Byrne has been the Alabama athletic director since 2017 and in such time has extended contracts on Nick Saban, fired Avery Johnson and hired Nate Oats and hired Brad Bohannon. The football team has won two national championships while he has been in charge, the basketball team is in the midst of its deepest run in 17 years and the state of all the programs on campus is generally on the rise.

The Crimson Tide's crew team is in the top 10,  the softball team is ranked No. 1 in the RPI and the baseball team has cracked the top 25. Byrne has even overseen several facility upgrades around campus as his 'Crimson Standard' project comes into fruition.