Between the triangle of Steven Leath, Allen Greene and Bruce Pearl atop Auburn Athletics, there's been enough praise to go around in recent weeks.
University President Leath said Wednesday afternoon on an in-house podcast that the "talented" Greene's pairing with Auburn basketball is a blessing for the program, specifically for his ability to handle the ongoing FBI investigation into the Tigers and NCAA basketball around the country.
"Allen is a talented, bright guy and he's fully capable of managing athletics in general and specifically the basketball situation, that's why I hired him," Leath said. "I'm supportive of the way he's handling things. Allen and I both feel the same, that Bruce Pearl did a remarkable job this year with a lot of distractions, a lot of road blocks set in the way of him and his players. It was really fun to watch what those young men and their coaches achieved."
The comments come a week after Greene made clear that he "absolutely" intends to keep Pearl at the helm of the basketball program, barring any unforeseen issues that may arise in the federal probe. Leath echoed that mantra, declaring that while Pearl is the man on the court, Greene is "the right guy" to deal with the off-the-court problems.
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"Now I think coach Pearl, me, Allen know there's some necessary, appropriate processes we've got to go through to get to the other side of this," Leath said. "And it's not just Auburn, it's college basketball in general. And Allen is sensitive to the fact, as am I, that college basketball is not in the best place in could be or should be. The NCAA knows that too. So, this is a complicated time to have the situation we have at Auburn, but I feel strongly that Allen's the right guy to lead us through this and work with coach Pearl regularly to make sure that we've got a program with high integrity and that's what we really want at Auburn."
Similar to Greene's vision of "champions" stated in his introductory press conference on The Plains, Leath knows what fans desire after the dust has settled: winning, and winning the right way.
"We want to win, don't misinterpret that," Leath said. "I'm a very competitive guy; I want to win. But I want to win in a way that makes us proud and with honor and integrity and I truly believe that can be accomplished here at Auburn and Allen's the right guy to get us there."
Pearl's Auburn team is facing exits of two players in the past week, as guards Davion Mitchell and Mustapha Heron split for a transfer and the NBA Draft, respectively. While Danjel Purifoy, a centerpiece in the Chuck Person investigation, has been reinstated for the 2018-19 season, the fate of the program lies in the hands of the FBI probe into Auburn and "30 or more" other teams in college basketball.
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