MSU's Palumbo Officially Named Interim AD After Batt's Departure

Michigan State has finally announced its interim athletic director.

Jon Palumbo has been waiting to officially be named interim AD for several weeks after J Batt's decision to leave for Kentucky first came out, but MSU made it so on Friday morning. This comes a day after Batt and UK officially announced that he would be starting there on July 28, along with a final buyout number of $3.95 million.

What to Know About Palumbo

Palumbo was essentially the second person in charge of the athletic department while Batt was in East Lansing. He was previously the executive deputy AD and COO of the department, but he was also notably named as the CEO of the recently launched company, Spartan Ventures, even before Batt's departure.

“Jon has been an integral part of the innovation of MSU Athletics over the past year, and I have every confidence in his ability to maintain its positive trajectory as interim athletic director,” university president Kevin Guskiewicz said in a press release. “This will be a seamless transition for MSU Athletics, and we look forward to a successful start of the upcoming season for our programs and student-athletes.”

Palumbo's Background

Palumbo followed Batt from Georgia Tech to Michigan State right around this time last year. He had the same titles with the Yellow Jackets as he had the past year with MSU, minus being the CEO of any sort of affiliated company.

With Batt now on the way out and Guskiewicz changing course away from Clemson, MSU is actually in a place to start yet another "new age" relatively soon. Palumbo has four years of head AD experience from his time at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2018 to 2022. Whether he emerges as a candidate for the permanent job or not, Palumbo makes the most sense to take over for the next few months or so.

“I’m honored to serve the university in this interim role, and I am grateful to President Guskiewicz for placing his trust and belief in me,” Palumbo said in the university's press release. “I look forward to working with our student-athletes, coaches and staff to build on the positive momentum we have established and continue to move MSU Athletics forward.”

Overall, this is another needed step towards stability that Michigan State has really needed. The Spartans have kept their president in place, and now, at the very least, everybody knows who is running the athletic department right now. Guskiewicz also said in the release that he will take "the coming weeks and months" to evaluate all his options to find the next permanent athletic director.

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