Former MSU AD J Batt reportedly pursued other Big Ten, ACC positions

If it wasn’t Kentucky, it sounds like J Batt would have been leaving for another power four school.

Michigan State is in search of a new athletic director after Batt accepted that same position at Kentucky on Monday. The news of Batt’s potential departure broke over the weekend, with things becoming official on Monday.

The departure of Batt for another relatively similar school like Kentucky caught many Spartans off guard. But it sounds like it shouldn’t have based on an interesting report from Connor Earegood of The Detroit News. According to Earegood, Kentucky wasn’t the only job Batt pursued after the Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz announced he’d be leaving for Clemson last month.

Per Earegood’s sources, Batt also applied for athletic director positions at Virginia Tech, Purdue and Wisconsin. So it was clearly evident that Batt was looking to leave Michigan State as soon as possible following Guskiewicz’s departure.

Batt was hired by Michigan State last June and essentially spent one year with the Spartans. So it’s certainly not common to see an athletic director leave on their own after one year. But it’s clear that the loss of Guskiewicz was an indicator that Batt wanted to also leave for a new job. It shows that things are not great at the moment for Michigan State leadership.

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