EAST LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The University of Kentucky officially finalized a six-year agreement on Monday to hire J Batt as its new athletic director and CEO of Champions Blue.
Batt who served a brief one-year tenure as the athletic director at Michigan State University, steps in to replace longtime Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart ahead of his June 30 retirement.
In a campus message, UK President Eli Capilouto praised Batt as a “record-breaker in fundraising” capable of navigating the modern college sports landscape, which includes overseeing the Wildcats’ for-profit name, image, and likeness (NIL) arm.
Batt’s sudden exit marks another chapter of administrative instability for MSU, which is already searching for a new university president following Kevin Guskiewicz’s recent departure for Clemson.
Guskiewicz’s exit significantly eased Batt’s transition, triggering a contract clause that slashed his buyout fee in half to $2.5 million.
While the Spartans are left searching for their third athletic director since 2021, Kentucky lands an administrator with deep SEC roots, having previously served as a top executive at Alabama, to spearhead its next era of revenue generation and facility investments.
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