A day later, Greg Byrne couldn't walk far at Alabama's basketball game without a handshake. The smile on the Alabama athletics director's face said he didn't mind.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Byrne found himself at the center of the Crimson Tide football locker room holding a football. And a year before that, he was quietly in conversation about replacing retiring AD Bill Battle.
Early Tuesday morning in Atlanta, there he stood, game ball held over his head, presenting it to Nick Saban.
"Usually when I'm in the locker room, I'll be along the side, slap five with some of the guys on the team and the coaches," Byrne told AL.