Early candidates for the Auburn athletic director position

Here are eight names to be on the lookout for to be Auburn's next athletic director.

Per reports, Auburn and Allen Greene are working on ending the athletic director's tenure early. It's been an rocky tenure for Greene, with fantastic highs for different athletics programs under his tenure (Auburn basketball's regular season championship, gymnastics making the national championships, baseball going to the College World Series) but also a series of perceived clashes with the Board of Trustees and leaked interviews for other positions. It's expected that current Chief Operating Officer Marcy Girton would be the acting athletics director until an interim is named, and there will be a national search for Greene's replacement. 

Earlier this month, Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic cited many up and comers in the world of college football, and some members of that list make sense to be Auburn's new athletics director and are included below.

Tim Jackson, Auburn

A 34-year veteran of Auburn and early favorite, Jackson currently is Executive Associate Athletic Director for Development and formerly worked with Coach Pat Dye before joining the Athletics office. Well liked by major donors and within the complex, he was the "right-hand man" and confidant of Gene Chizik during his coaching tenure and has worked in virtually every facet of Auburn sports, from on the field to ticket sales.

Rich McGlynn, Auburn

The Executive Associate Athletic Director for Compliance, McGlynn has been on Auburn's staff since 2006 and has previous work experience with the NCAA directly, most recently serving as Associate Director of Membership Services. He has prior administrative experience as the Commissioner of the Central Atlanta Collegiate Conference from 2000-2001 and is well liked by Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl, as well as has the backing of influential boosters, per reports.  

Erin Adkins, UCLA

According to The Athletic, the 38-year old is a well-respected compliance director who works closely with UCLA football and men's basketball, including building the school's first NIL platform. She previously served on the NCAA transfer working group that recommended the 2020 one-time transfer rule change, and has SEC experience from her time at Vanderbilt.

David Benedict, UConn

UConn's current Athletic Director was the architect of UConn's move to the Big East as well as their exclusive sponsorship deal with Nike and construction of new facilities for soccer, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. Having held positions at Minnesota, VMI, Long Beach State, and Arizona State, he is respected in the industry for his breadth of experience across college athletics. He spent two years as Auburn's Chief Operating Officer in 2014 & 2015, spearheading the $150M renovation to Jordan-Hare Stadium as well as orchestrating a nine-year extension with Under Armour that included compensation in both product, cash, and $10M in company stock.  

Tiffini Grimes, Purdue

Another of the Athletic's "College Sports 40 Under 40",  the senior women's administrator for Purdue has southern roots, having began her post-law school career at Georgia Tech and having worked at Penn State and Alabama, where she handled compliance for Nick Saban's football teams and later added Alabama basketball to her responsibilities. The 39-year old is considered close with Alabama athletic Greg Byrne until leaving early this year for Purdue. 

Ann-Marie Guglieri, Yale

The Chief Operating Officer for Yale athletics, Auerbach reported in her "College Sports 40 Under 40" piece that Guglieri is known as "the real Bulldog" dating back to her collegiate field hockey days. She has previously worked at Dartmouth and Colgate, and received the 2014 Nell Jackson Administrator of the Year Award from Women Leaders in College Sports. 

Adam Neuman, Big Ten Conference

As listed in The Athletic piece, Neuman has been the primary deputy (and deputy general counsel) for Commissioner Kevin Warren through the additions of UCLA and USC, as well as the renegotiation of the record-breaking media rights deal just recently announced. The 32-year old is seen as a rising star in the world of sports business, and a major player behind the scenes in the 2nd most powerful conference in college sports. 

John Hartwell, Utah State

The outside candidate with the most familiarity with Auburn, Hartwell was previously the AD at Troy University from 2012-2015 and is originally from Mobile. A former basketball player at the Citadel, he's one of the largest administrators in college at 6'8 and presided over numerous facility upgrades at both Utah State and Troy, including new practice facilities for both Troy softball and golf, as well as renovations of the Troy softball complex and a $2.1M renovation of football's Veterans Memorial Stadium. Prior to Troy, he worked at Ole Miss and was Chief Operating Officer of the Ole Miss Athletic Association Foundation, where he was the chief fundraiser.

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