According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Georgia Tech Athletic Director J Batt is going to be taking the AD job at Michigan State. While it sounds like a deal has not been made official, Thamel noted that “He’s emerged as the target, and a deal is expected to come together in the near future.”
It was announced in December that Batt, along with head football coach Brent Key, had signed contract extensions with Georgia Tech through 2029.
Batt became Georgia Tech’s 10th full-time athletics director in October 2022. In just 25 months under Batt’s leadership, Tech athletics’ impressive achievements include:
Prior to his arrival on The Flats in 2022, Batt served for five years as executive deputy director of athletics, chief operating officer and chief revenue officer at Alabama (2017-22). His administrative experience also includes stints at East Carolina, Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary and his alma mater, North Carolina, where he was also a member of the Tar Heels’ 2001 NCAA champion men’s soccer team and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications and a master’s degree in sport administration.
This is going to be a big loss for the program if the reports do indeed turn out to be true. President Angel Cabrera is going to be leading the charge to find a new director of athletics and continue to progress that Batt had made during his brief time with the Yellow Jackets. Will Georgia Tech look to the outside for a hire or will they stay internal? That is one of many questions that will be answered in the coming days and weeks.
