Kentucky this morning announced that they have hired J. Batt as their new director of athletics. Prior to coming to Kentucky Batt was the vice-president and director of athletics at Michigan State University. Then before that he held the same two post at Georgia Tech and he also had numerous roles at Alabama. His career spans several major college programs, and he is widely recognized for his record-breaking fundraising success and strategic investments in facilities to maximize resources and revenue. He has his work cut out for him especially with the Men's Basketball Program.

Smart of UK to prioritize fundraising. It's a non-negotiable in today's climate. 

One of my college roommates from many years ago is an assistant AD at Xavier University. He keeps his finger on the pulse of the sports programs at the University of KY and is also an alum.  He says Batt has a good reputation in the industry and thinks it would be great to have a youngish AD at the helm for reason already mentioned above.   I'm glad UK has moved on from the prior AD.   

On 6/15/2026 at 1:16 PM, UKato91 said:

One of my college roommates from many years ago is an assistant AD at Xavier University. He keeps his finger on the pulse of the sports programs at the University of KY and is also an alum.  He says Batt has a good reputation in the industry and thinks it would be great to have a youngish AD at the helm for reason already mentioned above.   I'm glad UK has moved on from the prior AD.   

UK didn't move on from their previous AD, he retired. That is the only reason why the job is open. 

I like this hire. They got someone with AD experience, he has been in the SEC too when he was an assistant at Bama. So he was part of overseeing Alabama becoming very good in basketball too, to go along with football.