re: Byrne being considered for Pac12 commisioner

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We better pony up whatever cash we have to keep Byrne. He's the best AD in America.

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WE PAYING EVERYBODY UP IN THIS BITCH.

OATS gets $5 million,

BYRNE gets $2 million

Baseball Coach guy gets $1 million

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Surprised to hear the left coast conference would even acknowledge the existence of someone employed in the State of Alabama.

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Considering Byrne was at Arizona prior to coming here, and is one of the top ADs in the country, I don't think it's all that surprising.

I was just about to start a thread about this. I heard Jeff Goodman, a Pac-12 media expert, being interviewed this morning on The First Team (McElroy's show) on Sirius. When asked who he thought they should get, Byrne was the only name he mentioned and talked about all the reasons why Byrne would be perfect for the job.

This is obviously very concerning. Byrne isn't going to leave Alabama for another AD position. But if the Pac-12 comes calling, you have to at least seriously consider it. And if you're the Pac-12, you couldn't make a better hire. You mentioned relationships...Goodman mentioned that no one is better at relationships and dealing with people than Greg Byrne.

We make enough money to outbid the Pac-12, and we should, but I don't think money would be an issue. Being a Power 5 commissioner is pretty much the pinnacle of success in college sports for an administrator. And if Byrne likes a challenge, getting the Pac-12 to a position of prominence in football and basketball would certainly be that.

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Maybe the pay is the better but the competitive aspect of being an AD seems like a big plus to me.

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Oh, I could certainly see a strong competitive aspect to being the Pac 12 commish. They are dogshit as a football conference right now, relative to the other Power 5s, and basketball is pretty irrelevant also. I could see someone with a serious competitive streak wanting to take on the challenge of competing with the SEC, ACC, and Big 10 and returning the Pac 12 to glory.

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Battle may have had good intentions but he was a shitty AD by any measure, one of the worst ever.

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Truth be told, Bear Bryant was not a great athletic director either. He shuffled Hayden Riley from football to basketball and then to baseball, because of his value to the football program. When I was a student from 1975 to 1979, Riley was the baseball coach and mostly got players from Tuscaloosa area high schools, along with a few others. The field didn't even have lights. Bryant did make some excellent hires in CM Newton, Sarah Patterson, and Don Gambrill. But it was a very different era of college athletics, as we all know. Head football coaches were routinely the AD also.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying Battle was a great AD. I just think he was never going to be anything more than a place holder between Mal Moore and the next guy. But prior to hiring Saban, Mal Moore's record wasn't very good either.

Greg Byrne is fantastic. He is very responsive to questions as well. The upgrade from the disaster called Bill Battle to Byrne is like going from Dubose to Saban.