Tide’s Byrne Speaks at ACS Institute

This article first appeared in August 3 edition of The Sand Mountain Reporter.

University of Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne shared about leadership, culture, expectations and other topics — along with a few stories about Nick Saban — during a question-and-answer session Thursday morning at the Albertville City Schools Institute.

The event took place at the Albertville Fine Arts Center and kicked off the 2024-25 academic year for the school system’s administrators, faculty and staff. ACS Superintendent Dr. Bart Reeves and new AHS varsity girls basketball coach Natasha Smallwood moderated the session with Byrne.

The 52-year-old Byrne was named the Crimson Tide’s 17th director of athletics in January 2017. His father, Bill, served 30 years as a college director of athletics. His mother, Marilyn, is a retired educator who spent time as a teacher, assistant principal and principal.

“Not that I have any influence on this whatsoever, but I believe anybody that devotes their life to kids should have an instant pass to Heaven,” Byrne said. “Thank you first and foremost for what each and every one of you do in making an impact.

“Even at a young age, I knew the sacrifice that my mom made on a daily basis throughout the year to serve the young people. My parents educated me on that.”Byrne watched his parents model one of his key principles of leadership, which is: “I’d never ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.” He demonstrated this recently when he picked up trash outside Coleman Coliseum and the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility in Tuscaloosa after returning from a trip.

“You have to have a culture within your group that you work with where there’s constructive feedback, there’s honest conversation,” Byrne said.“One of the best things you can do to be as effective as you want to be is to be honest about yourself. Not that you’re cutting yourself down, because you’ve got to have confidence, but to say you know, this is an area I can get better at. This is an area I need to work on.

“The leaders who will recognize that and show humility with that are the ones I admire and try to pay attention to the most.”

Two of the leaders Byrne admire are Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart and Bob Gates, a former CIA director and Secretary of Defense. While serving as president of Texas A&M from 2002-06, Gates hired Bill Byrne as director of athletics.

“Positive attitude, energy and enthusiasm is contagious, just like a lack of attitude, a lack of energy, a lack of enthusiasm is contagious too,” Greg Byrne said. “You want to be on the right side of that.

“Every day we have an opportunity to serve. Try to avoid me, myself and I’s. Trying to make other people feel valued makes you feel good.

“Use the opportunity to serve the people that you’re around. Regina gets up after I leave. My wife, we’ve been married 30 years. Her coffee is ready for her every morning when she gets up. I can’t cook, I’m not very good at barbecuing, but I make sure I serve her every day.

“Thank the people who are making an impact on you. Serve the kids. They look up to you in everything you do. If you’re driving a school bus, if you’re keeping the school clean, whatever your role is, those kids look up to you.

“I remember our janitor in middle school, Mr. Chuck. Mr. Chuck was a good dude and he cared about us kids, and we knew that he cared about us. So, each of us have that opportunity to make an impact on a daily basis on the people who are in our lives, and what an opportunity that is.”

Saban retired in January after 17 ultra-successful seasons as the Crimson Tide’s head football coach. Byrne worked with Saban for longer than any other director of athletics in the hall of fame coach’s career.

Byrne hired former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer as Saban’s successor.

“He is a force of nature, but he is a good man,” Byrne said of Saban. “He will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all-time in any sport."

He’s been great in transition. He wants Coach DeBoer to be great, because he wants Alabama to be great. He has been an asset and he’s been supportive.

“Coach Saban and I got along well and get along well because I show a lot of respect to him, and you should. But he gave me the opportunity to have a really good partnership with him, and I think we should all try to do that with people.”