Allen Greene spent most of his first 24 years of life playing baseball.

He played at Notre Dame. He played in the New York Yankees organization at three different levels. Then he spent a season playing independent ball. When his athletic dream ended, when he walked away after the 2001 season, he found himself stopping by Notre Dame's practices on his way home after work in 2002 and '03.

This happened often. He still loved the game. He missed the game.

"I still had that yearning of being a baseball player," Greene said Friday. "I would always stop by the baseball field to see my head coach and our assistant coaches and the guys. Just to be around the guys. And one day ... I pulled up and along the third base side of the fence were two gentlemen in suits. One of them is Bernard Muir, who is at Stanford, and the other is Bill Scholl, who is the A.D. at Marquette. And I said, ‘Why are you guys here?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’re supporting the baseball team.’ And I said, ‘Whoa, you get paid to watch baseball? This is a job I have to find, I’ve got to get into this industry.'"

That conversation set in motion a series of events that eventually led Greene to Auburn, where he formally was hired Friday as the Tigers' new athletic director.

During those post-Yankees days at Notre Dame, he marveled at how many people — coaches, tutors, professors, administrators, supporters — played a role in making his dreams a reality. A lightbulb went off. Greene wanted to play a role in helping the next generation of Irish athletes make the most of their opportunities.

Still, his story isn't one of immediate triumph. Greene began his administrative career as a member of Notre Dame's compliance staff, which didn't exactly suit his effervescent personality.

"He’s a people person, a genuine guy who just kind of 'gets' people," " Greene's wife of 14 years, Christy, said Friday. "Development probably is where he should have started, but compliance experience is never a bad thing. I think that helped set a tone for him that things must be done the right way all the time."

Allen Greene moved into development and fund-raising in 2007, which represented a massive change to his job description. No longer a stingy taskmaster compelled to give coaches and athletes bad news, he now found himself using his warm personality to gain rapport and trust from Notre Dame supporters.

That shift changed the course of his career — and his life.

“It was less of a decision and more ... of a revelation," Greene said. "It kind of became apparent after a couple of years that I was probably better suited for the external side of the house. And fortunately, I had a boss and big boss that felt the same way and it just kind of took some time to get over in the developmental side. It’s not a normal transition, I know, but I think just based on my makeup, it seemed to make sense."

Greene flourished in that role and soon caught the eye of Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone, who brought him to Oxford to help augment the Rebels' athletic fund. After a five-year stint there that included the addition of a title — Assistant Athletics Director for Development — he left for University of Buffalo to serve as athletic director Danny White's top lieutenant.

When White left for UCF in 2015, the Bulls promoted Greene into their top spot.

Christy Greene says her husband remains guided by the same values that led him into success both in baseball and athletic administration. Those values, she said, also make him an outstanding husband and father.

"He stays even keeled, which is what I love about him. (He's) the most patient man I’ve ever met. Phenomenal father who does hair, changes diapers and does it all, very involved," Christy Greene said. "The one thing I really have admired about how he’s moved up is that he does things the right way. He won't compromise there. That’s sometimes hard to do because there are people in your face, there are people pulling you in all different directions, but he says: Nope, we’re going to stay straight and narrow and that’s how we’re going to do it and if you don’t like it, sorry."