Wednesday was a big day for Michigan State athletics. The Spartans officially hired J Batt and introduced him as the new athletic director and he held his opening press conference.
Michigan State fans were excited to hear about his vision for the future and it just felt like he brought a ton of excitement with him to East Lansing. While he doesn't officially start for a couple of weeks, he's already excited to get to work and even recorded a fundraising video while he was on campus.
Batt said had important things to say throughout his introductory presser, including the notion that he believes Michigan State is a top 10 athletic department in the country.
If that doesn't fire you up as a fan, I don't know what will.
Batt also said something that all fans can agree with and it's been kind of forgotten over the past few years: every athletic department relies heavily on the success of the football program.
Hearing an athletic director be open, honest, and transparent about his desire to have the football program compete for championships is refreshing. While, yes, his job is to manage the entire athletic department with all of the programs, it doesn't have the success it needs to be one of the top departments in the country without football excelling.
Batt gets it. He understands what fans have been saying for years now.
The football program's success will generate the revenue necessary to bleed into the other programs which will lead to their success.
This has to mean that if Jonathan Smith doesn't prove himself this year, there's a chance he could be on his way out the door but he needs our support because he currently has Batt's.