Michigan State University athletic director J Batt has reportedly been named a frontrunner for the same position at the University of Kentucky, just over a year after assuming the position at MSU.
Kentucky’s pursuit of Batt is part of a concentrated effort to return him to the SEC, according to reports made by ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Saturday afternoon. Batt worked in the SEC as a Deputy Athletics Director at the University of Alabama from 2017-2022.
“As far as we know, J Batt is our athletic director; he's doing a great job and we hope that he's remaining at MSU,” MSU Spokesperson Emily Guerrant told The State News.
Batt joined MSU on June 2, 2025 after a three year stint as Georgia Tech athletics head where he transformed the school’s fundraising efforts. In 2024, Georgia Tech set an all-time record of $78.2 million in athletics donations. Batt brought the same skillset to MSU, launching the fundraising and media rights entity Spartan Ventures and For Sparta, a billion dollar capital campaign directed at transforming MSU’s athletics infrastructure and NIL streams.
President Kevin Guskiewicz recruited Batt from the ACC in 2025 and the two were in lock step in all fundraising efforts for the athletics department. The two met at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where Guskiewicz led concussion research while Batt was a graduate assistant on the university's soccer team. Batt helped the team win a national championship as a goalkeeper in 2001.
Two weeks ago, Guskiewicz announced his departure for Clemson University, triggering a clause in Batt’s contract that slashed his $5 million buyout in half. If Kentucky were to finalize Batt as their athletic director, the university would pay MSU $2.5 million. Batt’s current yearly base pay at MSU is $1.85 million with $100,000 annual raises. Former athletic director Alan Haller made $800,000 in base pay.
With the outgoing president, concerns over the future of Spartan Ventures, introduced by Batt and Guskiewicz, mounted. At a Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, board chair Brianna Scott said Spartan Ventures will continue to operate as intended and is set to launch July 1, despite Guskiewicz’s departure.
“Everything is related and framed as a position versus a person,” Scott said. “Whoever sits in that position, it will apply to that person just as much as it applied to Kevin.”
Scott also said Batt was still “on board” after Guskiewicz announced his departure for Clemson.
The University of Kentucky could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
