Michigan State’s new athletic director, Jason “J” Batt, arrives at a transformative time in college sports, and with a number of challenges to resurrect the Spartans into one of the nation’s elite programs.
MSU made the hiring of the 43-year-old away from Georgia Tech official Monday, June 2. Batt will be formally introduced in East Lansing with a news conference Wednesday, June 4.
J has an impressive record at several Power 5 schools and an impeccable reputation as a strong and innovative leader,” MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz said in a statement. “He will bring experience, excitement and a commitment to elevating Spartan athletics to the next level. We are thrilled to have J join our leadership team at Michigan State.”
Batt’s first day of work will be the week of June 16. He also was appointed chairman of the College Football Hall of Fame in November.The school did not immediately release terms of the deal, but a source told the Free Press on Sunday night as it was being finalized that Batt will make around $1.8 million annually in base pay, and ESPN reported it is a six-year contract that would run through 2031. MSU also will pay Georgia Tech nearly $2 million to buy out the remainder of the contract he signed in December that runs through 2029, per a source
Batt is the first athletic director MSU has hired without previous ties to the school since 1995, and the first since 1992 with previous experience running a college athletic program. Merritt Norvell (1995-99) did not have connections to MSU but had been in the private business sector before the school hired him. His predecessor, Merrily Dean Baker (1992-95), is the only person the school hired in the past 35 years with previous experience as an athletic director.
Alan Haller, a former Spartans football and track athlete, rose from MSU Police Department lieutenant through the athletic department before taking over as athletic director Sept. 1, 2021, for Bill Beekman (a career university administrator who had no experience in athletics). Before Beekman, Mark Hollis ascended through the department to lead it for a decade before resigning in 2018. His predecessor, Ron Mason, had been MSU’s hockey coach prior to taking over as AD in 2002 for Clarence Underwood, another longtime athletic department employee who replaced Norvell. Prior to Norvell and Baker, George Perles infamously served as both football coach and athletic director from 1990-92.
