Allen Greene discusses positive impact for Auburn of having Suni Lee on gymnastics team

Imagine running late to class, passing through the crowd of nameless faces you spot everyday on your way to the subject you’re just skating by attempting to understand and boom — Olympic gold medalist gymnast and Dancing with the Stars participant Suni Lee walks right by.

That’s the reality some students at Auburn have faced in their time on campus. Joining The Paul Finebaum Show earlier this month, Auburn Director of Athletics Allen Greene discussed the positive impact of having Lee on the Tigers gymnastics team.

“So many of us on our campuses interact with what we would call superstar student athletes,” started Greene. “I’ve got the chance to get to know Suni. She’s an 18-year old. When I get a chance to talk to her, I won’t say she’s a kid because she’s had some worldly experiences, quite literally. But she’s a fantastic young person.

“She’s what makes this industry special. People like her are why I like doing what I do.”

It isn’t everyday that your school features a world-renowned athlete like Suni Lee. As you can see, Allen Greene recognizes how special it is, and doesn’t take it for granted.

Allen Greene discusses how Auburn is addressing NIL concerns

Furthermore, it seems like you can’t talk about college sports without addressing the two biggest elephants in the room, NIL and the transfer portal. And on a recent episode of The Paul Finebaum Show, Auburn Tigers athletic director Allen Greene discussed how Auburn is addressing NIL concerns.

“Well, I think that’s part of the biggest challenges,” said Greene. “Different schools are interpreting things differently, as you mentioned. We’re working hard to be leaders in the industry and to support our student-athletes. I believe, like many of my peers have said, NIL in of itself is a really good thing, and we’re OK with that. I’m just bled into something that, quite frankly, we anticipated would happen with our guardrails. And so now, we’re in this world where we’ve heard the terms’ wild wild west’ and free agency, and we feel the same thing. That’s just part of where we are and just continue to try to work through and get some clarity and the best we can.

For those unfamiliar with NIL, it is short for name image and likeness and is the possibility of compensation paid to NCAA student-athletes to promote, partner, or represent brands using their own name, image and likeness. This change was brought along courtesy of the Supreme Court ruling in the NCAA v. Alston lawsuit. Thanks to this ruling, it has allowed athletes to profit from their brand and not just the schools.

There are some throughout the college sports landscape, like Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who believe that this will spell the downfall of college sports if left unchecked. And others, like former Tigers coach Gus Malzahn who are swimming with the new wave with or without rule changes.