Michigan State’s athletic director search is now officially underway as J Batt has left East Lansing for Lexington, Ky., giving up Tom Izzo for Mark Pope and Pat Fitzgerald for Will Stein.
The move was a little surprising considering Batt was only at Michigan State for a cup of coffee, but no one can really be that mad because of that fact. He wasn’t around long enough to really show what he could do as a fundraiser — you could argue that Greg Williams’ massive donation was because he’s good friends with Izzo.
Michigan State should be looked at as a premier destination for athletic directors given the football and basketball program being up there in the top 25 all time as well as rising women’s basketball, women’s soccer, hockey, and men’s tennis programs.
The Spartans have a Hall of Fame basketball coach and a historically-solid football coach entering his first year on the job. Not to mention, Michigan State has one of the best NCAA hockey coaches, too.
Add in the resources with major donors like Williams, May Ishbia, and a couple of other billionaires, and Michigan State could be one of the athletic powers of the Midwest.
The next athletic director search needs to include these names if Michigan State wants to become a top-10 athletic program like Batt had originally promised.
Jon Palumbo, MSU executive deputy AD and Chief Operating Officer
The most obvious name that has come to light has been Jon Palumbo. The executive deputy AD followed Batt to East Lansing from Georgia Tech and there’s talk that he could also leave with the now-departed athletic director. Could he follow Batt to Kentucky? That’s a possibility, but it would be tough to turn down an AD role for himself.
Palumbo was responsible for a lot of the success that Georgia Tech saw while under Batt’s control and he would be an excellent option for the Spartans. It would also maintain a sense of continuity.
I speak for a lot of us when I say that Palumbo would be a home run hire.
Dan Bartholomae, Western Michigan AD
This may be more of a pipe dream than anything else, but if Michigan State is serious about becoming a top-10 athletic department, the school needs to reach out to Dan Bartholomae.
The Western Michigan athletic director has been there since 2022 and he’s led the Broncos’ athletic department to unprecedented success. He’s led the athletic department to 37 conference championships in his four years and the hockey program won the national title just last year. The growth of Western Michigan’s athletic department has been impressive to watch.
Bartholomae is likely to draw interest from other top athletic departments around the country so he might hold out a little longer for a higher profile job, but Michigan State should interest him.
Martin Jarmond, UCLA AD
A name that has been thrown around in past Michigan State athletic director searches, Martin Jarmond would make a ton of sense, but I’m not sure what his interest level would be.
Jarmond began his administrative career at Michigan State as an assistant athletic director from 2003-09. That familiarity with East Lansing could be a draw and Michigan State should definitely have interest considering what Jarmond has been able to do at UCLA. The Bruins have turned the basketball program around, the football program just hired a bright young coach and have a top-15 recruiting class for 2027, and the baseball program was one of the best in the country this year.
Oh, and the women’s basketball program just won the national title.
Prying Jarmond away from UCLA wouldn’t be an easy task, but you’d have to think that Michigan State has the money for it.
Bonus: Mark Dantonio, former MSU football coach
If Tom Izzo was retired, I’d put his name right here with Mark Dantonio’s, but having the latter step up as the university’s AD — even if just for the time being — would be great.
Dantonio knows the athletic department, he’s a familiar face and name that would draw plenty of fundraising dollars from donors, and he knows what it takes to win. Not only would this help Fitzgerald and the football program, but it would help Izzo as Dantonio would give him anything he needed to succeed.
I don’t think Dantonio would have a ton of interest in stepping out of retirement, but if he knows it’s a temporary deal while Michigan State looks for a long-term AD, I think he’d consider it.
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