šŸˆ Grading Greg Byrne

BamaFan334

Member
With some focus being given to sports outside of football for a short window until Spring Camp, I felt it would be an interesting conversation to get folks thoughts on Alabama's AD, Greg Byrne.

We know the immense strides taken by Mal Moore to get Saban, build the facilities and infrastructure in Tuscaloosa to simply be the best in the country. Genius steps to secure a future for Alabama athletics. Football, golf, softball, and gymnastics performed extremely well.

Bill Battle carried the torch and has a very successful background with collegiate licensing and trademarks. Oversaw success in football, golf, tennis, and softball. Brought in tons of out of state interest for the school, oversaw massive growth in Tuscaloosa based off the heights of the athletic program that changed Tuscaloosa forever.

Greg Byrne came in with a football program on cruise control, brought in Nate Oats for basketball as well as current baseball coach Rob Vaughn. Seen recent success in soccer, track, and getting gymnastics back in the Top 10.

We've seen golf remain a back end of the Top 25, we've seen our first Final Four in basketball, softball has made Oklahoma City. The question is, is Greg Byrne good at what he does or has he fallen into a prime position built by Moore and riding those accomplishments with the guardrails put up Battle? Is Oats a Paul Johnson? Quick success due to philosophy, but spotty afterwards due to not changing with the gane and teams learning to defend. A softball program struggling to keep up and performing, but not a true threat due to depth. Baseball trying to figure what direction it is going to take. Football making a new hire in DeBoer to follow Saban.

So, I bring this thread up to discuss if our AD is going to show the type of success his last two counterparts showed the University and fanbase. My personal judgment is still out. Sure, he walks like he's king, but has he really done anything to boost Alabama athletics to meet the expectations of our athletics programs, athletes, and fans? I know there is a lot I don't know, but I'm still uncertain if he can carry what Moore and Battle built to that level. DeBoer will ultimately be the deciding vote, but can he get softball back to being a legit contender for a Natty, can baseball get to Omaha, will basketball continue to be a national threat, will soccer continue to grow, and will football get back to being king?
 
Well.....i
I was disappointed what they did to some long time and faithful season ticket holders...in
U2 section. Few yeas.......ago....Took their seats.... Wasnt really fair how it was handled

Seems nothing recently has been evil. Sure changed schedules in football by adding 2 p4 .... ticket prices still through the roof...but thats everywhere
The new seat backs ...the black ones....are awful...dont know if he did that....someone did.....awful though

Saban Field stuff is over done...still think it should be added to stadium name...some way...thats just me though..... to much Saban Field though

Security at entrances work pretty good and electronic tickets....
Killed the guys around stadium buying n selling... see very little...any more...

I have met n talked to him.....seems fine...easy...
I had issues with several things butthey seem to have worked most out...

He will be judged mostly on his replacement of Saban.....chose fine....but...see how it works out though....
 
If you're going by that, would it be a fair grading system given other schools are going through similar situations?

I'm not comparing us to everyone else. We have standards in our house and I'm just curious to what everyone else thinks.

Never tried using the "well so and so gets to do it" when you were younger only to be told "so and so ain't my kid and living in my house"? Comparing yourself to a different standard isn't beneficial and hinders growth. I'm not trying to be Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, or Notre Dame. I want to smash them.
 
Hmm so maybe I'm confused. What's the criteria to judge Greg on?

Half of the posters are saying he'll be judged for the hire of Saban's replacement. If that's the only criteria, we are in trouble.

I think he has done great job navigating through tough situations over the years and the fact he is doing what's best for athletic program as a whole and he understands that he's not always gonna please fans with decisions he has to make day in and day out. He's not perfect. One thing he's mindful about is the budgets and he's doing whatever he can to leverage the program to another level. He's a dang good one.

Look at everything as a whole, not just the football program. Look at how he has handled the NIL, covid years, Nike contract, baseball and Golf facilities, the hire of new coaches, basketball practice facility,etc.
 
Hmm so maybe I'm confused. What's the criteria to judge Greg on?

Half of the posters are saying he'll be judged for the hire of Saban's replacement. If that's the only criteria, we are in trouble.

I think he has done great job navigating through tough situations over the years and the fact he is doing what's best for athletic program as a whole and he understands that he's not always gonna please fans with decisions he has to make day in and day out. He's not perfect. One thing he's mindful about is the budgets and he's doing whatever he can to leverage the program to another level. He's a dang good one.

Look at everything as a whole, not just the football program. Look at how he has handled the NIL, covid years, Nike contract, baseball and Golf facilities, the hire of new coaches, basketball practice facility,etc.

Did we ever get the details of the Nike contract?

Just playing devil's advocate here. One could say, where are we better athletically? You mentioned NIL and leveraging that, but we have also seen plenty of comments sharing we don't spend/can't spend with most programs. You can definitely say Moore and Battle were ahead of movements, just like Saban was, so can we say that about Byrne? What specifically did he do to manage the coronavirus? I'm asking because I don't know. Was that him standing up for our program and demanding we play or was it all told to him by the SEC offices and NCAA? Golf facility is a good one. Forgot about that one, but hopefully it helps our teams grow and compete, but also bring in those big time recruits.
 
I was thinking when you posted that one...

Maybe I worded this wrong, but this was more of an opinion piece to get folks thoughts on where they think the athletic program currently sits and grading Byrne on what he has accomplished during his tenure.

I hate using revenue, because those numbers are up everywhere in college sports simply due to the money thrown at it. Not fair to compare now to when Moore was running things with a smaller budget and revenue share/NIL being illegal, on top of TV and streaming deals that weren't even technology back then. Saban made roughly $3.7M his first year at Alabama, and DeBoer made $10M. Hard to compare when looking at revenue.
 
Maybe I worded this wrong, but this was more of an opinion piece to get folks thoughts on where they think the athletic program currently sits and grading Byrne on what he has accomplished during his tenure.

I hate using revenue, because those numbers are up everywhere in college sports simply due to the money thrown at it. Not fair to compare now to when Moore was running things with a smaller budget and revenue share/NIL being illegal, on top of TV and streaming deals that weren't even technology back then. Saban made roughly $3.7M his first year at Alabama, and DeBoer made $10M. Hard to compare when looking at revenue.
If we don't know what is happening from one year to the next, how can we grade? You mentioned the deal with Nike. The explosion in contracts happened after Bill Battle signed that deal. The guy that found CLC didn't see that coming? Are you kidding me? No one saw that.

Are you pissed off at the corporate "takeover" of seats? We had this conversation three or four years ago. You have to accept the money. But, my question then was is it as now. Academic? Athletic? NIL? Where do you send you money? You have told us where you send yours.

I still do my Tide Pride thing. Strangely enough I don't care anymore.
 
If we don't know what is happening from one year to the next, how can we grade? You mentioned the deal with Nike. The explosion in contracts happened after Bill Battle signed that deal. The guy that found CLC didn't see that coming? Are you kidding me? No one saw that.

Are you pissed off at the corporate "takeover" of seats? We had this conversation three or four years ago. You have to accept the money. But, my question then was is it as now. Academic? Athletic? NIL? Where do you send you money? You have told us where you send yours.

I still do my Tide Pride thing. Strangely enough I don't care anymore.

You grade by where our teama rank nationally. Look at softball. Are we a national title contender? No. Are we dangerous? No. Will we win some games and have talent to make tge postseason? Most likely. With Moore and Battle we were legit Natty contenders. One coukd argue we are now middle of the road in the SEC.

About the seats...you have to take the money? Why? Not a bowl game, you can generate that revenue is many other ways. Lord knows the stadium looks like Major League 2 when Dorn sells all the outfield wall advertisements. Limited Seat Saban lunch would bring large sums. Lunch with the football team. Selling game used items. All of that is easy low hanging fruit. Those basketball uniforms from two years ago brought in around $20,000 in a week.
 
We have the right guys in place (football and basketball). We are in a rough spot in basketball.


Football improved. Sucks how it ended, but it improved. I’d give Deboer an A- on the season.


Oats on the other hand is looking squarely at a C- at the moment.



If you would have asked me about CKD about a month ago, I would have probably felt differently. But, letting the dust settle and looking back…….pretty dang good season.


Which in turn, I think our AD is doing his best and has made some great hires.
 
Football improved. Sucks how it ended, but it improved. I’d give Deboer an A- on the season.
That...is...soooo....generous. A- Omg.
Did you remember the running stats. 123rd out of 132 ( or something). Minus yards vs uga...blown out in 2 of last 3 games games. (So Oklahoma sucked worse than us)
Made cfp because of being bama....period
Thats not A- ...sorry. ... much futher down the alphabet...much.
 
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