J Batt Shares His Outlook on This Year's MSU Football Team
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J Batt has been Michigan State's athletic director a bit over two months now and has already made some big moves in his role.
Batt's tenure at the helm, fair or not, is going to be heavily dictated by how well the Spartans' football program does. And he knows this; he said as much when he first addressed the Michigan State community
"It's imperative we support all our sports," Batt said, "but do not be confused -- every athletics department competing at the highest level must be successful in football. So, coach (Tom) Izzo and I have already talked. Coach is the biggest supporter of our football program there is.
"We'll do everything we possibly can to dive in, help coach Smith and continue to drive excellence and support you in all you need, coach, while continuing to provide championship-level resources for all of our programs.
"This is a top-10 athletic department in the country. I'll say it again: This is a top-10 athletic department in the country."
Batt was at Ford Field for the Detroit Lions' preseason game against the Houston Texans on Saturday and briefly joined play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti and analyst T.J. Lang in the FOX broadcast booth and discussed a number of topics, including his thoughts on this year's Spartan football team.
J Batt's thoughts on Michigan State's football team
"I have a lot of confidence in that process," Batt said. "The confidence coming out of the building, the confidence in development. The several practices, several scrimmages, certainly made progress, way ahead of last year.
"Certainly, one of the strategies was to retain a lot of our guys. We were able to do that in the offseason. Brought in some really dynamic additions, heavily invested in the offensive line, defensive line. So important to win in the Big Ten, right?
"And so, we've done that. Feel really good about it, excited to see them take the field in a week."
Batt was brought in back in June to succeed former athletic director Alan Haller. One of the major strengths the school looked at was Batt's success in fundraising at Georgia Tech and other stops he's made, including Alabama.
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