“Therefore, this is clearly a “death blow” moment,” Kevin White said.
My understanding of the situation is that Greene wanted a longer commitment as his contract is set to expire relatively soon.
Auburn wanted to get through the football season first.
Greene hired Harsin and that has been...challenging, to say the least.
Considering how intertwined the success of football is to how the the AD is viewed, especially at a high profile school like Auburn, an answer of "let's wait till the end of the season" can easily (and should be) read by Greene to be "we are letting you go after the season, save a national championship".
Being an Asst. AD at Ole Miss and an AD at UB and Auburn should set him up for another higher profile position. He certainly made the right move to get out now, that's for sure. In fact, I think it was a good strategy to both press Auburn for an extension and, ultimately, negotiate his departure now.
I don't know what "death blow" moment Kevin White is talking about. Auburn is Auburn.