How Did Alabama AD Greg Byrne Break the Ice With Mal Moore?
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is one of the most powerful men in college athletics. He's in his seventh year leading the Crimson Tide athletic department, and is a go-to voice in the Southeastern Conference when issues arise across college athletics.
The now 52-year old athletic director didn't start out that way, though. He earned it by spending time in multiple administrative roles from working at the Fiesta Bowl to earning his first athletic director position with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in 2008.
Byrne is comfortably in charge in the Mal Moore Athletics Facility at the University of Alabama after overseeing the transition from head football coach Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer. He joined "The Next Round" on Wednesday and talked about the last few months on the job as it will likely be his lasting legacy with the University.
Before discussing hiring DeBoer, navigating NIL and the transfer portal Byrne was asked about his relationship with the building's namesake. Mal Moore served as Alabama's athletic director from 1999-2013 and leaves a lasting legacy on campus.
Byrne met Moore in 2008 and detailed about how he got in Moore's good graces early with "The Next Round".
"One of my favorite Coach Moore stories. I was 36-years old when I became the AD at Mississippi State. I certainly wasn't ready for it at that point. I go to my first SEC meetings, I think we were in Phoenix. I don't get nervous about much, I was a little nervous walking into this room of ADs, everybody was 20 years older than me," said Byrne.
"I talked to Greg Sankey who was Mike Slive's right-hand guy at the time. I said, 'Greg, tell me something about Coach Moore where I could kind of break the ice with him'. He said, 'You know, Coach Moore does a wonderful job in the room, but sometimes his phone will ring in the middle of the room though'. I said, 'I got it', So I went up to Coach Moore and I said, 'Hey Coach Moore, it's Greg Byrne, I'm the new AD at Mississippi State,' he's like, 'oh yeah, I know who you are Greg'. I said, 'I'll make a deal with you', he said 'what's that?'. I said, 'as long as I can ask you anything I want to about being an athletic director so that I can learn from you, I'll make sure your phone never rings during the SEC AD meetings, because I heard it rings occasionally'. He said, 'partner you've got yourself a deal'. So, Mal and I - I loved the man. When Regina and I had this opportunity, seven years ago now, hard to believe that we stood right here and got introduced. It's been a dream at a place as special as the University of Alabama is. Everyday I can tell you I think how can we represent this university in a manner it deserves to be represented and following Coach Battle and Coach Moore and Bear Bryant was the AD at one time, Coach Bryant was, so it's an honor."
Byrne served in that role with Mississippi State for three years before taking the same job with the Arizona Wildcats. Coach Moore passed away in 2013, while Byrne was at Arizona but the memories of their relationship and the lessons Moore imparted on Byrne still hold weight today.
