AUBURN | Less than five months into his new job, Allen Greene already has the coaches in Auburn’s three major sports signed to long-term deals.

Greene, who inherited head football coach Gus Malzahn’s new seven-year deal, which was agreed to in December, inked head basketball coach Bruce Pearl to a five-year extension three weeks ago and head baseball coach Butch Thompson to a new six-year deal last week.

“It was just a set of circumstances that presented themselves all at these times,” said Green, who began his stint as the Tigers’ athletics director in February. “What I would like to do is be more strategic in thinking about our coaches and their longevity here. We have a great stable of coaches and we want to support them, but this was all stuff that came in and we were being very much reactionary.”

Entering his sixth season as the Tigers’ head football coach, Malzahn will be paid $49 million over the next seven years. With a buyout that would pay 75 percent of his remaining contract in the case of a termination, Malzahn can feel secure in his deal for the foreseeable future.

He also has most of a talented staff locked into multi-year deals.

“From a coaching perspective, continuity with their assistants is critically important. I think from an administrative perspective, continuity is important as well,” Greene said. “As I learn about our coaches, their personalities, their nuances, their visions for their programs, it makes it easier for an administration to support them for their endeavors when you have some continuity.

“And also it helps when you go through some tough patches with those coaches, it brings you closer together. I’m looking forward to locking arms with all our coaches and doing everything we can within our power to give them the best opportunity to win conference and national championships.”

Navigating those rough patches is something that Greene will find easier to do as he builds stronger relationships with Auburn’s coaches.

“By and large my philosophy is looking at the inputs: How are they recruiting. How is the coaching staff handling players? How are they administratively from a compliance perspective? Do they return emails from academic advisors? Are they doing performance reviews? It actually gets down to the nitty gritty of are they doing the things that make them a good teammate as coaches and coaching staffs,” said Greene. “If they are, then I’m more likely to be helpful and help them navigate through a difficult time. It they’re not, those are things we’d certainly have to address.”

Pearl just navigated the basketball program through a roller coaster year, winning the SEC Championship for the first time since 1999 but also dealing with an FBI investigation, the indictment of his top assistant and the suspension of a couple of key players.

Greene believes the issues with the basketball program are now in the rearview mirror, but there remains a bit of uncertainty.

“The tough part about the basketball situation, and this isn’t just us, this is across the country, there’s lots that’s beyond our control and that we don’t know,” he said. “Our responsibility is to support Coach Pearl and his program, and we will continue to do so. And we’re so happy to have him on the Plains with his energy and his excitement. We’re looking forward to a great season next year.”