{"id":108384,"date":"2025-06-06T11:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108384\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T11:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:03:11","slug":"michigan-state-athletic-director-j-batts-priority-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108384\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State athletic director J Batt’s priority: football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Video: Meet MSU Athletic Director J Batt<\/p>\n

Michigan State University’s new Athletic Director J Batt talks during an introductory press conference on June 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

J Batt, Michigan State’s new athletic director, prioritizes revitalizing the football program, which has struggled since 2015.Batt aims to support coaches through resource allocation, structural adjustments, and staffing improvements.Batt’s experience at Alabama under Nick Saban, where he helped boost fundraising and program success, is seen as a positive sign for MSU.<\/p>\n

EAST LANSING \u2014 Work officially does not start for J Batt until after Michigan State<\/a> University\u2019s Board of Trustees approves his contract June 13.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean the Spartans\u2019 new athletic director<\/a> won\u2019t be busy. Taking a holistic overview of what will transform his new home into the top-10 athletic department nationally the 43-year-old believes it can become.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’ve just got to look at all of it,\u201d Batt said Wednesday, June 5. \u201cReally, my job is to support our coaches. And so what does that look like from a resource perspective? What does that look like from a structure perspective? Staffing, whatever it might be, I’m gonna get in and dig in with our coaches and figure it out and see how exactly I can be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHAWN WINDSOR: New Michigan State AD J Batt knows the most critical part of his job: ‘Football’<\/a><\/p>\n

At the forefront for Batt, who arrives after leading Georgia Tech since October 2022, will be reinvigorating MSU\u2019s football program.<\/p>\n

Since winning the last of Mark Dantonio’s three Big Ten titles and making the College Football Playoff in 2015, the Spartans<\/a> are 54-53 overall and just 34-45 in conference play. That includes the final four of 13 seasons under Dantonio and four seasons of Mel Tucker, who was fired midseason in 2023, and his staff.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Smith, who took over last fall in the wake of the messy Tucker tenure that has the school under an ongoing NCAA investigation<\/a>, went 5-7 in his debut season. MSU failed to make a bowl game for the fourth time in five seasons after Dantonio led the Spartans to 12 postseason appearances in 13 years. The program has not finished higher than third in its division of the Big Ten since 2017 under Dantonio and was 12th last season in the first year of an 18-team divisionless format.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m looking forward to seeing what he can do, and I’m excited to work with him,\u201d Smith said. \u201cResources matter. \u2026 Facilities matter. Revenue share matters. NIL matters. There’s a lot there. And we’ll tighten up that, the No. 1 and 2 focuses, once he once he gets over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batt pledged to fully support Smith, whose team has started summer conditioning and will open the season at home against Western Michigan on Aug. 29. As the NCAA case with the House settlement remains in limbo in federal court<\/a>, which is holding up revenue sharing and a number of other matters that are scheduled to begin July 1, Batt arrives already holding a seat on the NCAA\u2019s House Settlement Implementation Committee, which should give Smith plenty of insight and MSU as a major player in shaping the future of college sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking these new changes in stride and finding the opportunity in those changes is probably the most important part of my job right now. And all of our colleagues across the country, right?\u201d Batt said. \u201cWe’re on the precipice of transformative change in college athletics \u2014 and change we need. I think as we move forward, hopefully into the post-House settlement era, we’re going to look for a structure that’s got new transparency, new levels of consistency across the board. And that’s good for college athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE PLAN: New Michigan State AD J Batt’s priority list: Make connections, build fundraising<\/a><\/p>\n

That also returns back to Batt\u2019s vision for fundraising and seeking new outside revenue streams, as well as potential restructuring within the athletic department to enhance the Spartans\u2019 name, image and likeness programs. Though obviously it\u2019s far too early for a fully formulated plan, one concept Batt floated was to potentially have someone in a \u201cplayer management position\u201d who could help MSU deal with players\u2019 agents and strategic use of revenue sharing money.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation particularly applies in college athletics, so we’re gonna look at new and different ways to approach this industry,\u201d he said. \u201cSo whether it’s revenue, new opportunities for revenue; we’ll look at the way we arrange staff. As we look at new and different requirements to be successful in intercollegiate athletics, you’re going to have to find new and different ways to serve our coaches and our student athletes so that they can do their jobs really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall of Fame basketball coach Tom Izzo, who served as co-interim athletic director during the search after Alan Haller was pushed out May 1, pointed to Batt\u2019s work as an assistant athletic director at Alabama as a blueprint. Not only was his friend, Nick Saban, winning football championships, but the Crimson Tide hired Nate Oats to revive their basketball program and had a number of other success stories in non-revenue sports while building the financial coffers though Batt\u2019s work in securing donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn’t looking for just a business guy personally, even though if it would have meant more money for my program, if they thought they could do a better job of that,\u201d Izzo said. \u201cI think there has to be a balance. I think we’re past the days of my former football coach becoming the AD, like happened in my high school, like happened at the college I was at. I don’t think that’s a clean slate anymore, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batt is MSU\u2019s first athletic director hired with no ties to MSU since Merritt Norvell (1995-99). He also is the first person to lead the Spartans who arrives already having worked as an AD since Merrily Dean Baker (1992-95), who hired both Izzo and Saban.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know that’s a good thing or a bad thing,\u201d Batt said of being an MSU outsider. \u201cBut I’ll tell you: I’ve certainly worked at a lot of different institutions where I might not have had a tie before, and we’ve been able to be pretty successful. So it’ll work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com<\/a>. Follow him\u00a0@chrissolari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes on\u00a0Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0Spotify<\/a> or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at\u00a0freep.com\/podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n