J Batt, Michigan State AD, is finalist for Kentucky job after 1 year

Already with a president on his way out, Michigan State University might be in the hunt for a new athletic director after a little more than a year.

J Batt reportedly is a finalist for the athletic director job at Kentucky, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Batt was hired away from Georgia Tech by outgoing MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz on June 2, 2025.

Guskiewicz, amid turmoil within MSU’s Board of Trustees and upper leadership, last month accepted the president position at Clemson. He does not have a timeline for his departure from East Lansing.

The 44-year-old Batt reportedly is Kentucky’s primary target, but ESPN reported a deal has not yet been finalized. Batt’s six-year, $12.6 million-plus contract had a provision in it that cuts his buyout to take another job in half with Guskiewicz no longer being MSU’s president. The buyout drops from $5 million to $2.5 million from now until June 30, 2027. The following year, it decreases to $2 million, then $1.5 million in Year 4 of his deal and $1 million in Year 5. He does not have a buyout in his final year of his contract, which expires June 30, 2031.

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Batt is making $1.85 million in base pay this year, with a $100,000 annual bump scheduled for July 1; he also gets raises in each year of his deal, up to a projected $2.35 million in the final year of the contract (2030-31).

Batt met Guskiewicz while the two were at North Carolina, when Batt was a student and soccer player and Guskiewicz was a doctor doing concussion research. Guskiewicz, a native of Pittsburgh suburb Latrobe, eventually returned to Chapel Hill and served as chancellor at UNC from 2019-24. Batt – who grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia – worked at a several schools, including Alabama and Maryland, that all are below the Mason-Dixon Line.

In May, Batt said there were two reasons why he left Georgia Tech to join Guskiewicz at MSU, citing “alignment” and their previous relationship. The two were working closely together to create both a new Spartan Ventures fundraising arm for the athletic department and to create a new district around Spartan Stadium. Batt also said in May that they were beginning initial planning phases for upgrades to the football stadium, which were slated to cost around $500 million and be completed in 2029.

Batt is MSU’s 21st athletic director and replaced Alan Haller, who was fired by Guskiewicz on May 1, 2025. Batt is the school’s first athletic director who was hired outside of MSU since 1995 (Merritt Norvell).

Haller on Friday told WILX-TV in Lansing that he will join the NFL as its senior director of Collegiate Flag Football Development for women.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: J Batt could leave Michigan State for Kentucky AD job