Auburn AD Allen Greene hires fmr. Notre Dame teammate Brant Ust as associate AD for administration

Matthew Stevens | Montgomery Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption Auburn AD Allen Greene at SEC spring meetings Auburn AD Allen Greene talks to the media at SEC spring meetings

AUBURN --- Auburn athletics director Allen Greene has hired one of his former teammates at Notre Dame who he's known for over two decades.

Brant Ust, who has served as assistant athletics director and executive director of the Monogram Club at the University of Notre Dame, has been named an associate athletics director for administration at Auburn. Greene announced his newly created role Tuesday afternoon as a part of his philosophical changes to the administrative roles inside the Auburn athletics department.

“I am truly appreciative of the professional experiences and opportunities I’ve had while at Notre Dame,” Ust said. “I would like to thank Allen Greene and Marcy Girton for the opportunity to join the Auburn family and am excited to begin working to deliver the best experience for student-athletes, coaches and the Auburn community."

"I would like to thank @AGreeneIV & @MarcyGirton for the opportunity to join the Auburn family and am excited to begin working to deliver the best experience for student-athletes, coaches & the Auburn community. War Eagle!"



🗣 @NDBrantUst https://t.co/Q2TXUspv6F — Auburn Tigers (@AuburnTigers) June 19, 2018

The hiring of Ust comes a few weeks after Greene sent out a memo informing university employees of the termination of five athletics administrators including chief communications officer Ward Swift, senior women's administrator Meredith Jenkins,. senior associate athletic directors Bernard Hill and David Mines and chief revenue officer Michael McBride.

Under Ust’s guidance, the priorities of the Monogram Club at Notre Dame was increase its engagement with an alumni base of the university that spans across the nation.

“We are excited to welcome Brant and his family to The Plains,” Greene said. “He is an accomplished administrator with a dynamic personality who will add value to Auburn Athletics. Daily, we’re building Auburn men and women, and Brant’s intercollegiate and professional athletic experiences set him apart from the field. Simply put, the Auburn family just got better.”

More: Source: Auburn athletics terminates five senior administrators

Greene, who is from the same local Seattle area as Ust (Ust grew up in nearby Redmond, WA), was a teammate with Ust on the same Notre Dame baseball team that had current LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri leading the program with current Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor as an assistant coach at the time. As an infielder at Notre Dame, Ust became one of the most decorated players in program history, earning BIG EAST Rookie of the Year honors in 1997, while taking home the conference's Player of the Year award in 1998. He also earned third-team All-America recognition from the ABCA, Baseball America and NCBWA.

When Mainieri made his return to Notre Dame for the first time as LSU's head coach for a two-game mid-week series in May, Ust arranged for 30 or so other former Notre Dame players under Mainieri to take part in an organized university reunion.

Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth round of the 1999 MLB draft, Ust enjoyed a nine-year professional baseball career within the Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners organizations. He was a member of USA Baseball's 1998 Collegiate National Team. Before joining the USA Baseball staff, Ust was as an assistant coach on the University of Michigan baseball staff after having served as a coach within the strength and conditioning department.

After Greene's four-year professional baseball career ended, he worked in the athletic development and compliance offices at Notre Dame from 2003 to 2009.

Prior to Ust's time at Notre Dame, he worked with USA Baseball from 2010-14, where he served as alumni relations director of the Under-18 National Team. Ust also helped to reconnect USA Baseball with its former players and coaches, while building awareness for the organization's brand.