While Michigan State University’s presidential situation is settled, its athletic director limbo continues.
J Batt remains employed and working at the school as he prepares to depart for Kentucky, a school official confirmed Tuesday, July 7. The 44-year-old accepted the job with the Wildcats on June 15, just over a year after taking the athletic director position with the Spartans on June 2, 2025.
Emily Gerkin Guerrant, MSU’s vice president and chief communications officer, said as of Tuesday that Batt remains an employee and is reporting to work at the school. No departure date has yet been determined, she said, but that should be finalized soon.
Neither the school, its Board of Trustees nor president Kevin Guskiewicz have announced an interim athletic director since Batt took the Kentucky job.
With Guskiewicz announcing Monday that he plans to remain MSU’s president, eschewing the Clemson job he had accepted in late May, it means Batt’s buyout for leaving MSU remains at $5 million as he prepares to leave for Kentucky. He signed a $12.6 million-plus contract last year when he was hired, but it had an escape clause that cut his buyout in half if Guskiewicz were to depart MSU.
“As President Guskiewicz reaffirms his commitment to Michigan State University, this is a chance for every Spartan to do the same,” Spartans men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo said in a statement Monday. “For the 600,000 living alums, and everyone who calls themselves a Spartan, this is a moment for unity. Growth requires new ideas and allows for different perspectives, but we all must share a singular purpose of making Michigan State the greatest possible university it can be. It’s a responsibility we owe Spartans past, present, and future.”
Guskiewicz – hired by MSU in December 2023 – pried Batt away from Georgia Tech on June 2, 2025, a month after firing former athletic director Alan Haller, an ex-MSU football/track athlete. Guskiewicz and Batt met while the two were at North Carolina, when Batt was a student and member of the men’s soccer team and Guskiewicz a doctor doing concussion research.
Batt made $1.85 million in base pay in his one year at MSU, with $100,000 annual bump set for July 1. He was scheduled to get raises each year of his deal up to a projected $2.35 million in the final year of the contract (2030-31) and also had unspecified annual bonuses in his contract for meeting and exceeding goals established each June with the university president.
Kentucky gave Batt a six-year contract that reportedly pays him nearly $3 million annually. He will serve both as athletic director and CEO of the school’s Champions Blue organization.
Eli Capilouto, Kentucky’s president, posted Monday night on X that he also expects Batt and his family to be “joining us soon” in Lexington.
“J Batt and I spoke this afternoon and he has reinforced his commitment to UK and his excitement about joining the Big Blue Nation as soon as possible,” Capilouto wrote. “We are working quickly to finalize his start date and his family is eager to join our community as well.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: J Batt still in AD role at Michigan State, but departure expected soon
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
