Alabama pulled off a major hiring coup Sunday after months of behind the scenes movement to find a worthy successor to current athletic director Bill Battle.



The news Sunday that Greg Byrne would be Alabama's new athletic director caught many off-guard considering Battle hadn't announced any plans of stepping down. But it was a culmination of months of meticulous planning, a strong desire to keep all proceedings quiet and a mindset that Alabama should hire the best candidate, with or without ties to the school, according to sources with knowledge of the search.



After Battle took a leave of absence in June for treatment of myeloma, an incurable form of cancer, Alabama officials started to put together a list of possible athletic director candidates. Battle had a year left on his contract, and Alabama wanted to be prepared if he left the job early. Battle is now expected to serve as AD until March before assuming a new role as special assistant to university president Stuart Bell.

After decades of staying in the Alabama family at the athletic director position, school officials saw value in bringing in an outside perspective. They put out early feelers to Byrne, the then-Arizona athletic director, and indicated interest in the 45-year old rising star. At the time, Byrne was viewed as the frontrunner to become the next Florida athletic director but pulled himself out of the running in September to stay at Arizona. The underlying reason he said no to Florida, according to sources, was his immense interest in coming to Alabama.

"He made it very clear that Alabama was his dream job," a source said.

The search process, led by Bell, UA System trustee Finis St. John and search firm Turnkey Sports and Entertainment, cranked up in December. There was a long list of possible candidates to become Alabama's next athletic director, but officials liked what they saw in the forward-thinking Byrne. He had experience in the SEC as Mississippi State's athletic director, he understood the value of college basketball (he kept Sean Miller in Tucson after Maryland made advances) and well understood the role an AD plays within a university. No one said a bad word about him as the school did its due diligence, according to sources.





Alabama representatives met with Byrne in New York City under cover of the College Football Hall of Fame banquet being in town. Alabama knew that if any word leaked out from their meeting with Byrne, it could ruin any chance of hiring him. At the least, it would put Battle and the Arizona athletic director in the uncomfortable positions of having to deny the news.



Interestingly, a decade earlier Alabama officials had met with then-West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez in New York City to discuss the vacant football job. Those around the search still believe had news not broken before the deal was signed, giving West Virginia boosters a chance to raise money to keep Rodriguez, he would have ended up as Alabama's head coach. The school wasn't interested in going through that public scenario again.



Byrne met again with Alabama officials in Tampa ahead of last Monday's national championship game between the Tide and Clemson Tigers. There was growing optimism a deal would get done, but a major hurdle still had to be overcome: Nick Saban had to give his stamp of approval. Alabama wasn't going to make an athletic director hire if its most high-profile employee wasn't comfortable with it.



That couldn't come until after the national championship game. Alabama was able to get all the necessary parties together on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, with Saban spending a lengthy visit with Byrne. Saban liked what he heard from Byrne and left the meeting energized about the future, according to sources. He was on board with Byrne taking the AD job.



Byrne then accepted the job that night. Terms of Byrne's deal with Alabama are not yet known, but it is expected to be an increase from the $700,000 he was making at Arizona.





Hiring Byrne, which has been praised nationally, is considered a major win for Bell who took over as school president in July 2015. He and Finis St. John, who also assisted on the basketball search that netted Avery Johnson, ensured that only the people who had to know about the search did know. The list of people directly involved was a minuscule number.



That mentality is how Alabama avoided any leaks or media mentions of meetings with Byrne. The fact no one found out about the months-long process until after the fact is a significant departure for a school that's had to publicly acknowledge search swings and misses twice in the last decade (Rodriguez and Gregg Marshall).



A systematic search. A stealthy approach. A commitment to pursuing the better possible job candidate regardless of affiliations.



That is how Alabama landed one of the country's top athletic directors in its most important hire since Saban.