{"id":711210,"date":"2026-06-18T09:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/711210\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:45:13","slug":"j-batt-meets-with-mark-pope-and-the-new-wildcats-this-is-an-elite-place-with-an-elite-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/711210\/","title":{"rendered":"J Batt meets with Mark Pope and the new Wildcats: &#8216;This is an elite place with an elite standard&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/kentucky-wildcats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kentucky<\/a> AD <a href=\"https:\/\/ukathletics.com\/news\/2026\/06\/15\/j-batt-named-ceo-of-champions-blue-director-of-uk-athletics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">J Batt <\/a>is known as one of the best fundraisers in all of college sports \u2014 a necessity in the NIL era. That\u2019s music to Mark Pope and the basketball program\u2019s ears, needing money to help build the best rosters in the sport year in and year out.<\/p>\n<p>In a face-to-face meeting with the Wildcats today, Batt made it clear that he was brought in to provide those resources and they\u2019d never have to question whether they had enough to maintain an \u2018elite standard.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>No civil wars between departments or petty spats with coaches \u2014 the UK AD and Champions Blue CEO is now their biggest fan. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks so much for having me. I just want you to know, I\u2019m gonna be your biggest fan, OK? I\u2019m gonna do everything to work with (our donors) to give you everything you need to be successful,\u201d Batt told the Wildcats. \u201cI think the goal is pretty clear here. This is an elite place with an elite standard. You guys are elite and I look forward to helping provide those resources to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It won\u2019t just be money, either. Batt will also be available and active, willing to work and go to bat for his guys. If something is needed, you don\u2019t even have to knock.<\/p>\n<p>Just walk right in and ask.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything you need from me, my door is always open,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019m going to be here, I\u2019m gonna be right here with you, shoulder-to-shoulder, working every day. Appreciate you, looking forward to kicking some tail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Take a look at their meeting, one that included none other than Joe Craft \u2014 the Wildcats\u2019 top booster:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HLDQ4EPWIAAwAdE.jpeg\" alt=\"Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HLDQ4D6XMAALV2r.jpeg\" alt=\"Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HLDQ4D8XIAEKR81.jpeg\" alt=\"Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>We like that the standard has been set under new leadership, going into a crucial third season for Pope.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky needs to win at the highest level and do it quickly. We\u2019ll see if this roster\u2019s got what it takes \u2014 maybe Batt can share some practice scoop at his next media appearance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Kentucky AD J Batt is known as one of the best fundraisers in all of college sports&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[304583,49593,24233,99],"class_list":["post-711210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-j-batt","tag-kentucky-basketball","tag-mark-pope-91-newport-senior","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711210","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=711210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}