What Former Interim AD Palumbo's Departure Means for MSU
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EAST LANSING --- Michigan State's former interim athletic director and current Spartan Ventures CEO is leaving the school for a familiar face.
The University of Kentucky announced on Tuesday morning that it had hired MSU's Jon Palumbo to be the Wildcats' Executive Deputy Athletics Director and Deputy CEO of Champions Blue, LLC, which is pretty much the same role he had in East Lansing.
Michigan State has confirmed the news and announced that Eric Reinke will take over as interim Spartan Ventures CEO. Reinke has been Spartan Ventures' CBO. Athletic director Dan Bartholomae and deputy AD Jen Smith will also at least temporarily hold some of Palumbo's prior responsibilities.
“We all owe Jon a great deal of gratitude for the positive impact he has made on Michigan State Athletics," Bartholomae said in a university press release. "I am particularly appreciative of the efforts Jon has made to orient me on Spartan Ventures and his partnership in working to make my transition to campus a successful one."
Of course, Palumbo's decision to leave for Kentucky will mean that he is once again working with former Michigan State athletic director J Batt. News broke that he would be leaving for the Wildcats in June. There were still a few weeks after that where he remained, since his contract with MSU had a clause that would halve his buyout if Kevin Guskiewicz, who had accepted the presidency at Clemson, were no longer the president. That clause was never triggered after Guskiewicz changed his mind.
What Palumbo's Departure Means
Losing Palumbo is significant. Bartholomae sang his praises during his introductory press conference a few weeks ago, in what seemed like a public attempt to keep him around. Palumbo was in attendance for Michigan State football's season opener against Toledo on Friday as well, but the Spartans and their new AD were not able to hold onto him.
Kentucky is actually going to be the third school Palumbo will serve as Batt's No. 2 guy. The two of them were working together at Georgia Tech prior to both being hired by MSU. Bartholomae is now going to have to find his own right-hand man who will pilot Spartan Ventures, which Palumbo probably gets most of the credit for creating.
This is a little bit editorial, but Palumbo is going to get a shot at being a Power Four athletic director soon. He had a successful stint as an AD at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and he's had great stints as the football administrator or basketball administrator at several other larger programs. He certainly seemed like a worthwhile candidate for the permanent AD job at Michigan State, but Bartholomae was still the more proven, more experienced option.
Palumbo's leaving a big void behind. Where Bartholomae goes from here will shape a lot of what he does in the first months and years on the job.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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