Kentucky AD J Batt expects 'elite success' in basketball and beyond

LEXINGTON — When it comes to college sports, new Kentucky athletics director J Batt considers himself a “hopeless romantic.”

He was a Division I soccer player at North Carolina in the early 2000s and won a national championship with the Tar Heels in 2001. Now he’s an AD. And college sports is a billion-dollar enterprise.

Batt knows football and men’s basketball drive the ship for all 23 of UK’s varsity sports programs. But as a former non-revenue-sport athlete, he sees college athletics as a “double-bottom-line business” — one financial, and another opportunity-based.

“Part of the way I like to think about it is, the shift in college athletics — the prioritization of driving revenue — is an evolving of tactics,” Batt said Tuesday, June 16, in a roundtable with local reporters, “to protect the ultimate mission that we’ve always been about.”

Batt arrives in Lexington by way of East Lansing, where he served as Michigan State’s athletics director for one year. Before that, he was in the same position at Georgia Tech from 2022 to 2025. Fundraising was the hallmark of his tenure at both schools.

Batt secured a $401 million commitment for MSU, which UK called the largest single gift in college athletics. He also created Spartan Ventures, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization to help athletics maximize revenue and manage NIL opportunities. At Georgia Tech, he was instrumental in the Yellow Jackets breaking their athletic fundraising record by more than 40%.

When asked about specific revenue-maximizing opportunities he saw at UK, Batt said he’d have to “dive in” further. But he lauded the school’s partnership with JMI, its multimedia rights partner that also helps facilitate NIL opportunities. Batt also pointed toward UK’s for-profit LLC Champions Blue as integral to future success, providing “the nimbleness to shift, change and adapt in a much more quick way” than traditional university structure would allow.

“We’ve already been on the front edge with setting up this structure and creating this amount of opportunity,” said Batt, who will serve as Champions Blue CEO in addition to his AD duties. “So, I think we already are in a position of leadership in college athletics. Now, being smart, being strategic, taking measured risk? Absolutely part of the role, and something that we’ll do.”

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This job marks a return to the SEC for Batt, who worked at Alabama for five years (2017-22). He started as a senior associate athletics director at UA, then became chief operating and senior deputy athletic director. Batt eventually added the titles of executive deputy director and chief revenue officer — while remaining COO — before departing Alabama.

He also spent time in the athletics departments at East Carolina (2013-17) and Maryland (2009-13). He has experience in athletics fundraising in roles at James Madison (where he briefly overlapped with current UK women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks), William & Mary and North Carolina.

Before committing to a list of immediate priorities for when he takes over the department from outgoing AD Mitch Barnhart later this summer, Batt said he’d need to “dive into it” and “get into the weeds.”

Top of mind for Wildcats fans, though, is the future of their beloved men’s basketball program. Coach Mark Pope, heading into Year 3, has had an up-and-down offseason. After missing out on a number of high-profile transfer portal and high school targets, NBA prospect Malachi Moreno announced his return, former Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic committed to UK and five-star guard Ryan Hampton became the first pledge to Pope’s 2027 class. Positive momentum off the court, but on-court success will ultimately decide his fate.

“Elite success in basketball is the expectation. … I think what is important here is that we can be successful across a lot of sports,” Batt said, “but ultimately men’s basketball has set the standard.”

With any head coaching hire, Batt said he looks for a proven track record, fit (within the department and fan base) and another, less quantifiable metric: “authentic leadership.” Meaning, how candidates connect with athletes, “particularly in shorter windows.”

Batt’s track record of head coaching hires is mixed.

He removed the interim tag from football coach Brent Key at Georgia Tech, a decision that’s yielded a 27-20 record and three bowl games across four seasons. Batt replaced men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner with former NBA guard Damon Stoudamire, who never had a winning record and was fired after the 2025-26 season. In one year at Michigan State, Batt fired football coach Jonathan Smith (who went 9-15 in two seasons) and replaced him with former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired from NU after a hazing scandal.

Kentucky Athletics has seen significant turnover the past two years. Football coach Mark Stoops was fired in December after 13 seasons. John Calipari left for Arkansas in 2024 after 15 years with the men’s basketball program. And Barnhart’s last day, after 24 years, is June 30.

UK has not released contract information for Batt, but ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that both parties “finalized a 6-year deal.” Barnhart would have made $1.55 million next year plus a $650,000 retention bonus had he still been AD through July 2027. Batt would’ve made $1.95 million at MSU next year, according to the Detroit Free Press.

His contract with Michigan State was for six years, $12.6 million. Batt’s buyout was cut in half ($2.5 million) after former MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz accepted the same position at Clemson last month.

“This is a destination for us. You’ll have a chance to see my wife as we go, and she’s made it clear that our boys, who are 9 and 11 (years old), are going to graduate high school here in Lexington. So we’re fully locked in.”

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

Reach college sports enterprise reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25. Subscribe to her “Full-court Press” newsletter Kentucky AD J Batt expects 'elite for a behind-the-scenes look at how college sports’ biggest stories are impacting Louisville and Kentucky athletics.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky AD J Batt on generating revenue, finding basketball success