Buffalo athletics director Allen Greene.

AUBURN, Alabama — Buffalo athletics director Allen Greene has emerged as Auburn’s choice to replace Jay Jacobs as athletics director, Auburn Undercover has learned.

Greene’s hiring must still be cleared by the Auburn Board of Trustees. Greene is set to become the third African-American athletics director in SEC history.

The hiring could be made official as soon as this week, a source said. An Auburn University spokesperson would not comment when reached Wednesday.

"We won't have any information on the AD search until an announcement is made," the spokesperson told Auburn Undercover.

Greene, 40, is one of the youngest athletics directors in the country. He was hired at Buffalo in November 2015 after previously serving in a senior associate athletics director role at Ole Miss from 2009 through 2012. He was an associate athletics director at Buffalo from 2012 until his promotion to athletics director in 2015.

Greene is described as a tenacious fundraiser and was a right-hand man for Danny White, the chief development officer for the UMAA Foundation, and their fundraising efforts during his time at Ole Miss, a source tells Auburn Undercover. He held the title of major gifts officer for the fundraising arm of Ole Miss’ athletics department and helped create and plan a $150 million capital campaign at Ole Miss.

Greene followed White to Buffalo, where White was named the athletics director in 2012. White later left to be UCF's AD in late 2015, paving the way for Greene to rise to athletics director at Buffalo.

More recently, Greene also helped secure funding for an $18 million indoor practice facility at Buffalo, which had been discussed for nearly two decades before Buffalo finally broke ground on the athletics facility.

Greene, who played baseball at Notre Dame and with the New York Yankees' minor league system, also secured an apparel partnership with Nike while at Buffalo. He developed a facilities master plan during his short tenure with the school, too.

"Allen has worked very closely with outgoing AD Danny White in developing the strategic plan that has guided all this progress, and he has led a number of key elements of this vision, including spearheading a comprehensive facilities master plan for UB athletics; leading major capital projects; and building key donor and corporate relationships," University at Buffalo president Satish K. Tripathi wrote at the time of Greene's elevation to athletics director. "In short, Allen has been at the heart of the successful vision that has guided our athletic programs over the past three years."

He previously worked in the athletic development and compliance offices at his alma mater, Notre Dame, from 2003 until 2009.

Greene will replace Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs, who announced in November his intention to retire in June 2018 or at the time Auburn hired a replacement.

Auburn president Steven Leath initiated a search for an athletics director in November and formed a search committee to help with the process. The school also hired a private search firm.

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