{"id":705174,"date":"2026-06-15T09:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/705174\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T09:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:19:18","slug":"nick-saban-tom-izzo-and-nate-oats-among-fans-of-kentuckys-new-ad-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/705174\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Saban, Tom Izzo and Nate Oats among fans of Kentucky’s new AD target"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Kentucky<\/a> potentially getting in J Batt<\/a>, who is being targeted as the Wildcats\u2019 next athletic director<\/a>, replacing Mitch Barnhart starting July 1? He\u2019s popular with some of the biggest names in college sports.<\/p>\n

Currently the AD at Michigan State (2025-26) and previously at Georgia Tech (2022-25) with other stops at Alabama (2017-22), East Carolina (2013-17), Maryland (2009-13), James Madison (2007-09), William and Mary (2005-07), he\u2019s made plenty of friends across two decades in athletics departments.<\/p>\n

The most notable? Nick Saban<\/a>, Tom Izzo<\/a> and Nate Oats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As he worked his way up the industry ladder with promotion after promotion, those three have been among his loudest, most prominent supporters from the beginning. His time at Alabama was clearly a reputation-booster, as Saban and Oats were strongly in his corner once he got his first shots to lead his own programs.<\/p>\n

Batt finished his time in Tuscaloosa as executive deputy director, COO and chief revenue officer, responsible for guiding revenue generation, where he became nationally recognized as one of the best fundraisers in college athletics. The two faces of Alabama\u2019s top sports made it clear upon his departure to Georgia Tech that the Yellow Jackets found a gem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set a vision for the future of Alabama Athletics and Alabama football through the Crimson Standard and J as well as his team delivered with impressive results,\u201d Saban said of Batt.<\/a><\/p>\n

Working hands-on with the basketball department, Oats called him a \u2018perfect fit\u2019 at Tech after seeing the impact he made with the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis work ethic, character, wisdom, and vision for the University of Alabama have been great assets to our men\u2019s basketball program, and we are thankful for everything he has done to help our team and staff,\u201d he added.<\/a> \u201cI think he is a perfect fit at Georgia Tech, and I\u2019m excited to see what the future holds under his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting his feet wet in Atlanta, he got a shot with one of the most prominent schools in college sports as a Michigan State Spartan. Saban, as most remember, rebuilt that football program from 1995-99 before his historic stops at LSU and Alabama.<\/p>\n

Again, the greatest coach in college football history proudly endorsed his guy as MSU\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a time of staggering change across college sports, his vision and leadership are exactly what the Spartans need to thrive,\u201d Saban said of Batt. <\/a>\u201cJ did an outstanding job for us at Alabama before taking over at Georgia Tech, where he brought renewed energy and strategic growth to the Yellow Jackets, laying a strong foundation of competitive success. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a perfect fit in East Lansing to help build champions on and off the field and lead MSU with purpose into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, Tom Izzo, felt the same way, highlighting Batt\u2019s strong history of fundraising and innovation at previous stops.<\/p>\n

He had exactly what the program he\u2019s been a part of for 31 years was missing in a pivotal time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a key moment in the history of Michigan State Athletics,\u201d Izzo said.<\/a> \u201cWith J Batt\u2019s hiring, President Kevin Guskiewicz has found the right person to lead our department as college athletics continues to evolve. J has displayed tremendous innovation as a leader and has a proven track record of revenue generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a bad trio to have singing your praises.<\/p>\n

The door only opened for a one-and-done in East Lansing due to President Guskiewicz\u2019s unexpected departure to Clemson, taking over on May 27 after just two years with the Spartans. <\/p>\n

Just a few short weeks later, he has emerged as Barnhart\u2019s likely replacement \u2014 and it appears Kentucky got a good one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is Kentucky potentially getting in J Batt, who is being targeted as the Wildcats\u2019 next athletic director,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,304583,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-705174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-j-batt","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}