EAST LANSING, Mich. — J Batt said Michigan State University has one of the top 10 athletic departments in the country.
The school’s next athletic director made it clear the football program must lead the way to make his statement ring true.
The Spartans have been shaky in recent years in the sport that pays the bills in college athletics, losing seven games last year in Jonathan Smith’s debut season as head coach.
“It comes down to resources, and across the board, we will provide him and his staff with resources,” Batt said Wednesday, when he was formally introduced in East Lansing.
Batt left Georgia Tech, where he had been AD for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Yellow Jackets since fall 2022, to take on the challenge of raising money and turning around a football program in the highly competitive Big Ten.
The university’s board of trustees, which approved the selection, is scheduled to vote on Batt’s hiring on June 13, and his first day on the job is June 16. Batt replaces Alan Haller, whose last day was May 11.
Under Haller, the Spartans won conference championships in men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics, men’s hockey and women’s cross country. Michigan State, though, has had three straight losing seasons in football.
Batt’s tenure at Georgia Tech included the Yellow Jackets reaching consecutive bowl games the past two seasons, the first time the program has done that in a decade, and they were ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time in nine years.
In Batt’s first school year at Georgia Tech, 14 of 17 teams were in a postseason tournament.
Before leading Georgia Tech’s athletic department, he was executive deputy athletic director at Alabama and served as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer in the athletic department.
Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo reached out to his friend, former Alabama and Michigan State football coach Nick Saban, as part of the school’s search.
“Nick had great comments about him,” Izzo said.
Batt recalled Saban speaking so fondly about Michigan State.
“He’s always been so positive about this place,” Batt said.
Batt also worked in athletics at East Carolina, Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary and North Carolina, where he played on the 2011 national championship soccer team.
Batt is regarded as a strong fundraiser, an asset for any athletic department in this era of college sports. At Michigan State, his top priorities will be to do that and help the football program win.
Universities are set to be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes next school year. Direct payments will be in addition to third-party name, image and likeness deals facilitated by school-affiliated collectives.
Said Batt: “We’re going to be extremely successful and competitive in that space.”