It's been a great week to be a Spartan fan. Michigan State landed a couple of commitments in its 2026 football class, Tom Izzo held down the fort while the school looked for a new athletic director, and the Spartans officially reached a six-year deal with Georgia Tech AD J Batt.
The new AD made his way to campus on Tuesday and spoke to the media about the new job.
To say he's excited would be an understatement. He called taking the job a "no-brainer" and that wasn't even the best quote of the day from the new athletic director.
In fact, he said that Michigan State is a "top 10 athletic department" in the country. This destroys the narrative that Michigan fans have been trying to spin for years that Michigan State is a regional program and not a national one.
J Batt describes Michigan State as Top 10 athletic department, calls decision to become athletic director a 'no-brainer’..
— SpartanMag.com (@TheSpartanMag) June 3, 2025
(On3+): https://t.co/gAQWAQ7yML pic.twitter.com/tpdBdpqgfU
This also means that Batt sees this as an opportunity to blow what he did at Georgia Tech out of the water which was already impressive. He worked at Alabama before going to Georgia Tech in 2022 and his fundraising efforts for the Yellow Jackets have been well-documented and celebrated.
If he can do that at Georgia Tech and turn both the football and basketball programs around with coaching changes, just imagine what he can do at a "top 10 athletic department" like Michigan State.
The excitement for this hire should be through the roof because if he believes that Michigan State is a top 10 athletic department in the country, he's going to operate like one. That means holding people accountable for not meeting expectations and providing the NIL funds for both the football and basketball programs to be at the highest possible level.
What a time to be alive.