MSU's J Batt Optimistic About What's Developed So Far in Tenure
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New Michigan State athletic director J Batt is not letting any grass grow under his feet. He is already working the circuit trying to raise money for the new era of college sports that includes NIL and revenue sharing. These are uncharted waters and for a new athletic director, it makes even more difficult.
Batt is doing everything without having the benefit of the football team performing. Football drives the income, and a successful football team drives even faster. The pressure is on second-year coach Jonathan Smith to improve off of last season's 5-7 record.
“I think there’s a lot of confidence in the building,” Batt said on Thursday during Big Ten Football Media Days in Las Vegas. “Getting in there talking to our folks, talking to our student-athletes a little bit, talking to coaches a little bit, there’s a lot of confidence in the process and the growth. I’m certainly looking forward to them getting on the field, me getting to see some practice. I’m excited for that progress and I think that confidence that they have that we’ve made a lot of strides has been good.”
Batt was recently lured away from Georgia Tech. He replaced former athletic director Alan Haller, who was fired in May. Batt puts a primary on fundraising, and he has become very adept and luring in big donors. He has been at Maryland and Alabama where he has had success in fundraising. He spent almost three years at Tech before transitioning to East Lansing.
He brought with him Jon Palumbo, Michigan State's new executive deputy athletic director and chief operating officer.
“Jon’s such a steady person,” Batt said. “He’ll handle a lot of our kind of operational day-to-day things. As I’m out … on the road meeting with our folks, meeting with our fans, donors, etcetera, Jon will spend a lot of the time working with a great staff we already have.”
Batt now has to deal with revenue sharing and the doling out of more than $20.5 million to athletes in all sports. He has to figure out how to divide the pie. He also has to figure out how to get the filling.
“I would just tell you that we’re going to make sure our student-athletes have all the opportunities that we possibly can,” Batt said. “That’s going to take lots of different forms and shapes across the landscape but we’re certainly going to be in that space.”
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Scott Alan Salomon, J.D., earned his Juris Doctorate from St. Thomas University School of Law and his bachelor's in Communications from Miami University. He brings years of experience as a General Sports Writer On SI and is a gifted communicator. He has worked for the Tribune Company, Fan Sided, and now serves in his capacity On SI.