Allen Greene has opted to keep a lower profile throughout his 15-month tenure as Pitt’s athletic director.
As the Panthers and athletic departments across the country grapple with the demands of revenue-sharing and NIL, Greene has kept his cards close to the vest as to Pitt’s strategic plan for the future.
But that doesn’t mean Greene has been idle for the last year-plus. Far from it.
On Wednesday, he released a lengthy statement outlining a five-part strategic approach for Pitt.
“Throughout my first 15 months as athletic director, I’ve had the privilege of listening to the heartbeat of Pitt athletics,” Greene said. “From conversations with student-athletes, to coaches, to donors and fans, there is an acknowledgment that the landscape of college sports is changing faster than at any point in history. Among other things, revenue-sharing, NIL, transfer portal, legal entanglements and evolving NCAA regulations have fundamentally altered how we must operate.
“While much of the work required to rebuild our foundation hasn’t always been visible, I want you to know it’s been intentional and necessary.
“Over the past year, we’ve restructured our leadership team to align with these new realities. We’ve added key personnel to modernize our internal operations, revenue generation, commercial enterprise and philanthropic engagement. We’re also enhancing our capabilities in NIL operations, data analytics and multimedia storytelling. Additionally, we’ve realigned our philosophical approach, ensuring every decision we make is grounded in supporting our student-athletes while positioning Pitt to compete at the highest level.”
The five pillars of Greene’s plan are: student-athlete experience, competitive excellence, engagement and brand management, revenue generation and resource acquisition as well as operational excellence.
"Our priority is to create the best student-athlete & fan experience for Pitt, & that's exactly what we're doing.”
Read Allen Greene’s letter to fans about a new ticket strategy coming to Acrisure Stadium & his vision for where the department is headed.https://t.co/7PN0bBYtTwpic.twitter.com/ii9ioUymZ9
— Pitt Panthers (@Pitt_ATHLETICS) January 28, 2026
Naturally, success in football and men’s basketball remain critical components to the athletic department’s overall well-being.
On the basketball court, though Jeff Capel and Co. earned an inspiring overtime win over Wake Forest on Tuesday, the 2025-26 campaign has been a letdown.
Approaching the midway point of ACC league play, Pitt (9-12, 2-6) stares down no NCAA Tournament or postseason appearance for the seventh time in Capel’s eight years.
“We have high expectations for our men’s basketball program, and we haven’t lived up to those expectations this year,” Greene said. “Obviously, (Capel) knows that, the staff’s aware of that, players are aware of that — they want more out of what we’ve got going on. I know they’re working their tails off to try to fix it. The hope is that we take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us.
“I’ve had conversations with (Capel), with our staff, including Jay Kuntz, our (general manager), to talk about where our gaps are and to try to figure out how we close those gaps with our peers. Ultimately, they know that we have to do better all-around with the entire program.”
Greene’s predecessor, Heather Lyke, awarded Capel a contract extension in the summer of 2024 that lasts through the 2029-30 season. So is Capel the proper steward of Pitt men’s basketball moving forward?
“Evaluation of coaches always happens during the season,” Greene said. “We’ve got some things that we’ve got to do collectively as a department and as a men’s basketball program to better position them.”
Looking at football, Pitt navigated some frustrations once the offseason hit, losing key players to the transfer portal earlier this month in linebacker Rasheem Biles (Texas), receiver Kenny Johnson (Texas Tech), defensive lineman Francis Brewu (Notre Dame) and kicker Trey Butkowski (Michigan).
Those defections followed an 8-5 finish — Narduzzi’s record in four of his 11 seasons at Pitt — capped by a deflating Military Bowl loss to East Carolina.
Granted, Pitt brought in a 16-strong transfer class from the portal, made four new coaching hires and retained quarterback Mason Heintschel, among several others.
“Of the folks who we identified were priorities for us that we wanted to maintain, we only lost four of them,” Greene said. “That’s a really good job on our staff. We had one of the lowest departure rates in the ACC, and we got the guys who we wanted to get. Put all those things together with a good offseason — I’m excited to see what we have. … (But) we won’t know until it’s time to play.”
Narduzzi, like Capel, was signed long-term by Lyke and is under contract through 2030.
“I feel like we’re in a good spot, but I want us to be in a better spot,” Greene said of the football program. “That takes an investment from our entire community, same with basketball.”
Regarding football and basketball, Greene emphasized a full collaborative effort between each sport’s staff, Pitt’s administration as well as the extended Panthers fan base in offering continued support.
“Everyone has a role to play,” Greene said. “We as an administration have to set our priorities and our strategies that align with the outcomes we desire. Our coaches need to embrace the new world in which we’re in, focus on strategic investments, talent and building rosters that meet the demands of today — that’s a challenging task.
“Our fans, their responsibility is to show up, be supportive, be loud, bring people with them, and our student-athletes have responsibility to be accountable for the work they put in. Don’t be satisfied with anything and always want more and to be better. If we can do all those things well and better than our peers, we’re going to have something our community can be really proud of.”
In a lengthy sitdown with reporters Wednesday at Petersen Events Center, Greene discussed a variety of additional matters:
• How has Greene found it mingling in donor circles and in the community, given the added urgency around fundraising?
“We surpassed our (best) fundraising record last fiscal year, and our intention is to do that every single year,” Greene said. “I’ll say yes, progress has been made. But not enough. We’ve got to make more progress. Our fans and our donors have stepped up and they’ve responded, but we need more. There needs to be more.”
• Greene is under no illusion as to what Pitt athletics will require across the board to compete for national championships. Simply put, the $20.5 million in permitted direct revenue-sharing won’t cut it.
Programs looking for an edge must have robust NIL infrastructure in place, linking student-athletes with third-party deals and agreements that, per the College Sports Commission (CSC) overseeing the new world of revenue-sharing, does not count against the cap.
To facilitate those opportunities to student-athletes, Greene is looking close to home.
“What was a ceiling for rev-share, at $20.5 million, is now a floor,” Greene said. “Any program who wants to compete at the national level has to secure above-the-cap NIL dollars. How that is playing out now is from the community. We have a distinct advantage in our community, in we have lots of local businesses who reside here in Pittsburgh.
“We have an opportunity — and this is why we set up a whole new vertical in our department, and (senior associate athletic director) Pat Bostick is helping run that — but their participation in this new world is vital to our success. We’re putting forth strategy to engage that group and look forward to them talking about how they can help make a better Pittsburgh.”
• Work continues on the Victory Heights facility, Pitt’s $240 million, 240,000-square-foot complex that will house the majority of the university’s sports, excluding football and men’s basketball.
Announced in 2020 by Lyke, Pitt broke ground on Victory Heights’ main complex, positioned directly next to Petersen Events Center in Oakland, in May 2023.
Originally slated to open in fall 2025, Greene unveiled a new timeline while affirming the project has stayed on budget.
“We’re still on track,” reene said. “We thought we’d be moving teams in by now, but there’s still some polishing up and other things to do before we can start moving people in. We’ll move in this spring and be ready to rock and roll for this fall.”
Greene also said Pitt is exploring naming rights options for Victory Heights.
• Last Friday, the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a proposal that will allow for additional commercial logos or patches on uniforms, equipment and apparel for any non-NCAA championship competition.
The change is effective Aug. 1.
Per Greene, the Panthers could be sporting some new corporate sponsors on their jerseys as early as this fall.
“Between naming rights, jersey patches, other opportunities for revenue, our team is exploring and working with our partners on finding ways that they can invest in Pitt athletics to do those mechanisms,” Greene said.