J Batt welcomes joining ‘top 10 athletic department’ at Michigan State

Batt told the Michigan State athletics website that Guskiewicz worked with Batt on sports-related injuries, specifically concussions, when Batt was a student. Batt’s appointment is expected to be approved by Michigan State’s board of trustees June 13.

Batt thanked Guskiewicz, the board of trustees and family during his opening remarks Wednesday.

“This is truly an amazing opportunity,” Batt said. The excellence of this university, tradition and history of our former alums and athletics programs, all of our alumni, donors and fans, and student-athletes in this incredible East Lansing community, this is truly a special place.”

The timing of Batt’s departure from Georgia Tech came as a surprise in many respects.

Batt, 43, agreed in December to remain Tech’s athletic director until 2029 at a base salary of $979,000, which was to increase by $100,000 annually. He recently spoke to Bloomberg and SiriusXM about his passion for fundraising and positioning Tech for success ahead of the seismic change in college athletics.

And he was six months short of this third anniversary with the Yellow Jackets.

But according to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan State upped his salary by nearly a million dollars, which typically is the driving force behind such moves.

“I think first and foremost it’s the opportunity to be part of a top 10 athletic department in the country, part of a tremendous, really, really strong conference. And then, furthermore, as we head into this era, the next iteration of college athletics, the alignment with the institution, the university, the president is just so important,” Batt told a Michigan State athletics podcast about his reasons for the move. “So having a lot of familiarity with Dr. Guskiewicz, understanding his approach to college athletics and our values around that being aligned, was a huge positive for us.

“We’re certainly excited to get to East Lansing, to dig into the community and to be a part of that. But really, too, the tradition. The Spartan athletic tradition is awesome: 27 national championships, all of the alums, all of the former student-athletes. Being somebody that’s got a lot of learn about Michigan State from afar, it’s truly inspiring. To get a chance to work with those alums, our student-athletes now and then our tremendous coaches. We have unbelievable coaches. The chance to get to know those folks, to work with them, truly awesome. It was a no-brainer, and I was all-in from the start.”

Batt joins a department that, most notably, includes Basketball Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo. The women’s basketball team, men’s hockey team and women’s soccer team were among the Spartans teams that made their respective NCAA Tournaments, and the gymnastics team made the national semifinals.

The Spartans football team went 5-7 in 2024 in coach Jonathan Smith’s first season.

“Opportunities often require good timing,” Batt said. “It is an excellent time for Michigan State. As we head into the next era of collegiate athletics, this era will continue to be dynamic, require additional resources and provide new challenges daily. But the key to that success is alignment. We are well-positioned, not (merely) to survive that change, but to take advantage of it. To take ground. To move forward. Make progress.

“We’ll ask everyone in the family to pull in the same direction, to do their part. And it’ll require more. More than we’ve ever done before. We’ll pull harder, give deeper, run harder, run faster. But in the end, the success will ultimately be worth it.”