By: Joey Mullins
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Today, we continue our series named the S-Club Profile, focusing on former student-athletes and giving updates on what they have been up to since finishing their Samford playing careers. In this month's edition, we highlight Corey Green, a member of the men's basketball team from 1997 to 2002, who now serves the department as the executive associate director of athletics for external affairs.
 
Green grew up in nearby Calera, Alabama, and helped lead his Calera High School team to back-to-back state titles. When he was looking at colleges, he initially committed to Montevallo, but the opportunity to play locally at the Division I level ultimately changed his mind in favor of Samford.
 
"Really it was the basketball and the opportunity," Green said of what attracted him to Samford. "At that time, I was a first-gen college student, so there was not a lot of dialogue around what type of college and this and that. It was really about me having the opportunity to come in as a college freshman and play ball at a local university and play at the Division I level. I didn't know all the benefits of Samford when I got here."
 
In Green's sophomore and junior seasons, he helped the Bulldogs to the program's only two NCAA Tournament appearances after winning back-to-back Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) Tournament championships. Green talked about the experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament in both of those seasons.
 
"It was awesome," Green said. "Coming from Calera High School, I had just come off two state championships, back-to-back and being the first in that program's history to do so. So, to be able to do that with the group of fellows that I was able to play with here at Samford was special. We saw a lift up from a campus standpoint of engagement from our students and our fans and it was really a cool thing to do to come to basketball games back then, which was a shift from my freshman year. So, all-in-all, I would say it was one of the coolest things that I was able to experience. Really, we kind of surprised each other with that first year, and then the next year it was an expectation."
 
Green and his teammates accomplished something special for Samford. He said what he remembers most about those seasons was the times he had with his teammates.
 
"I think at a certain point in the season, we kind of all looked at each other and recognized that, hey, we could do something special here," Green said. "One of the things back then was we didn't have cell phones, so when we traveled, we bonded. We would hang out on the bus, we would hang out at the hotel, we would find a way to hang out in whatever city we were in. So, that camaraderie that we built a long the way, I think really propelled us to have the chemistry to push through it and be successful."
 
Green said that the bond he and his teammates forged while they were in college has continued into adulthood.
 
"We've all gone into our separate arenas in life, and we all live in different states, but we still have that connectivity and that bond, and we've communicated a few times a year," Green said. "When guys come into town, we try to all get together and hang out. But we more so are partners for life, so when things happen, we've had some challenges within our circle, quite frankly that we have all had to band together and pray for someone. I don't know if that would have been the case when we were 20, but now that we are in our 40s, I think life has shown us that these things are important.
 
Green graduated from Samford in 2002 with a B.A. degree in Sociology. But he got an interview in the financial sector through a friend that was involved in the Samford program. Green said he feels like being a Samford graduate was influential in his landing that interview and his first job.

"The fact that Samford was on my resume and a Samford connection was able to put me in a position to have that opportunity, I think all overcame my own personal deficiencies or professional lack of experience," Green said. "My first job was to cut interest checks. I would get a list of checks every morning and I would process them, put them in an envelope, and send them off. That was my first job at SouthTrust Securities back then.
 
"I did that for about six months and then the CEO asked me what my goal was, and I didn't have one, so he gave me some direction, letting me work in every department of that firm and then get my license to sell investments and insurance," Green said. "By the time I completed that program, SouthTrust was bought out and that kind of sent me off to find another job. I tried my hand in that industry for about three or four years, but I was not a good fit and didn't do well, quite frankly and found myself really struggling."
 
With Green at a crossroads in his professional career, he said it gave him an opportunity to reevaluate his priorities and reconnect with God.
 
"That was, from a faith standpoint, a very pivotal moment to reconnect with God, redesign my life's goals and plans, according to Him," Green said. "From that moment forward, it was one blessing after another where He was blessing my work and showing me favor and giving me opportunities to prove myself."
 
Green then landed a job at Merrill Lynch in 2008, but when the market crashed, he was laid off. He said this was another situation that his faith helped him get through.
 
"My faith propelled me through that," Green said. "Then I got an opportunity at Regions Bank in 2009 and that, technically started my banking career as that first guy at the desk when you walk in the bank and from there, it was just one blessing and opportunity after another that led me to be chosen and promoted for different opportunities. We were able to do well throughout those opportunities, which led to me being recruited by other banks."
 
Green said his career took off after that. He said his Samford education once again helped him as he gained further opportunities.
 
"It was just this progressive growth that I had no idea was really a thing until it was a thing, so finally I ended up at Regions Bank late in 2019 as a commercial relationship manager and certainly the Samford connection had a lot to do with that opportunity as well," Green said. "So, it's just been a full-circle thing, but again, the propelling thing was, a: the connection with Samford and then, b: me reconnecting with God and Him being able to order my steps and bless my work."
 
Throughout the last several years, Green had reconnected with Samford Athletics through both the Black Alumni Association and volunteering with the S-Club. He said another former student-athlete got him back involved with Samford.
 
"I have to give credit to a guy named Isaac Cooper," Green said. "At this point in my career, I had not been connected to Samford at all. I walked away not thinking I would ever come back, quite frankly. And so, Isaac reached out and he was starting a Black Alumni Association here and that connection ended up getting me access to Dr. Westmoreland, Randy Pittman and then eventually Martin Newton. Through those opportunities or engagements, Martin reached out about the S-Club. Initially, I served on the board there, so that was really my first reintroduction to athletics and Samford."
 
While working at Regions Bank, Green had Samford University as a client. He said that relationship, along with his volunteer work with the S-Club helped as he returned to Samford as an employee this past spring. He now serves as the department's executive associate director of athletics for external affairs. Green talked a little about what his goals are for the department he is now leading.
 
"My first goal is to learn the job and do the work," Green said. "That is something that I want to go into any situation doing is not assuming that I know everything and not having this arrogant approach to it, but really humbling myself to learn the job and do the work. And that entails learning my team, learning the folks that I get to work with every day, and I've been very fortunate to have such a stout team here at Samford that I work with personally.
 
"Ultimately the goal is to build up the revenue for our athletics department, build up the recognition for our athletic success, build up the affinity and connectivity in our community towards our athletics program," Green said. "I think we have the team in place, we have the product in place and now it's about putting all of that together. Again my first priority is to learn the job and do the work and then build on this so that we have what our coaches, our teams and our university deserve, which is a highly engaged community of folks that are not only fans, but are financially supporting our university and also have that affinity to spread the word about it."
 
Green also has a message for his fellow former Samford student-athletes about ways they can give back to the university and athletics department they love.
 
"What I would encourage every former student-athlete to do is pay it forward," Green said. "There are some strong, talented, engaged young student-athletes here that need to see what you're doing, have your presence, have your wisdom. Not only do we need you to physically support us, but financially, in whatever capacity you can."
 
For more information on the S-Club and for giving opportunities, please contact E.J. Brophy at wbrophy@samford.edu.