Michigan State announces Georgia Tech's J Batt as its next athletic director

Michigan State announced Monday that J Batt was selected to be its vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics.

Batt has been Georgia Tech’s athletic director since the fall of 2022.

“J has an impressive record at several Power 5 schools and an impeccable reputation as a strong and innovative leader,” MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said in a news release. “He will bring experience, excitement and a commitment to elevating Spartan athletics to the next level."

With the help of Hall of Fame basketball coach Tom Izzo, who called Batt's selection “a key moment in the history of Michigan State Athletics,” the school had been searching for an athletic director for a month. Alan Haller’s last day as AD was May 11.

The university's Board of Trustees, which approved the selection, is scheduled to vote on Batt's hiring on June 13.

An introductory news conference is scheduled for Wednesday.

Batt hired Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key, who has led the program to consecutive winning seasons after a string of four losing seasons in a row. He also hired Damon Stoudamire to coach the basketball team. The former NBA player was .500 last season in his second year.

Previously, Batt was executive deputy athletic director at Alabama and served as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer in the athletic department.

Batt is regarded as a strong fundraiser, an asset for any athletic department in this era of college athletics.

He guided the launch of a 10-year, $600 million fundraising campaign to benefit Crimson Tide athletics. He helped raise $78.2 million for athletics in his first fiscal year at Georgia Tech to surpass the previous single-year mark by more than 40%.

At Michigan State, his top priorities will be to raise money and help the football program win — perhaps in that order.

“This is truly an amazing opportunity to lead an outstanding, tradition-rich and passionate program, and I am grateful to President Guskiewicz and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity,” Batt said in the release.

Universities will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes next year. Direct payments will be in addition to third-party name, image and likeness deals facilitated by school-affiliated collectives.

Under Haller, the Spartans won Big Ten 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.

The Spartans were 5-7 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten in coach Jonathan Smith’s first year and expectations for them are modest in his second season.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports