J Batt hired as the New Athletic Director of Kentucky - Official
- Thread starter TheResistance
- Start date
LFG. I love this hire. Saban and Oats were very complimentary and Michigan State is furious he’s leaving. Not to mention, best fundraiser in the country!
I am just happy that he has no apparent connections to Mitch or UK President. As far as I know...
Goes without saying, no doubt. BBN is 100 percent united on this front. Glad Mitch will be gone for good.
Insanely good hire considering the legitimate fears of ending up with a Mitch crony.
The Birth of a New Era in Kentucky athletics. It's like having a giant, Mitch Barnhart-shaped tumor removed and being declared healthy, fit and ready the compete at the highest levels.
From now on, it won't be Kentucky's teams and athletes succeeding DESPITE the AD, it'll be Kentucky's teams and athletes suceeding WITH THE HELP OF the AD.
From all i read and hear, this guy has the energy, the talent, the focus and the vision to keep Kentucky Basketball as the Greatest Program of All Time, while significantly improving football. The Rifle team may take a step back. That seemed to be a special area of pride for Mitch. But otherwise, full steam ahead.
From now on, it won't be Kentucky's teams and athletes succeeding DESPITE the AD, it'll be Kentucky's teams and athletes suceeding WITH THE HELP OF the AD.
From all i read and hear, this guy has the energy, the talent, the focus and the vision to keep Kentucky Basketball as the Greatest Program of All Time, while significantly improving football. The Rifle team may take a step back. That seemed to be a special area of pride for Mitch. But otherwise, full steam ahead.
I’ll feel much better if I know this guy understands the unique situation that is being responsible for Kentucky basketball. I expect we can finally take the next step in football with this guy, and that’s a very good thing.
Hoping for the best.
Hoping for the best.
Moving on from the Barnhart era is a wonderful thing! Excited to see kentuckys future
This seems like a great hire. And I like that Kentucky is seemingly one of the first schools (maybe the first?) to replace its AD during this new NIL era. As in, we got a guy that is made for *this* new era, while almost every other power conference school still has ADs thay were hired to do things the outdated way.
Other AD hires from here on out will have to focus on NIL, fundraising, immediate transfers, etc. But at least Kentucky was the first to get their guy for this.
Other AD hires from here on out will have to focus on NIL, fundraising, immediate transfers, etc. But at least Kentucky was the first to get their guy for this.
By all accounts this looks to be a stellar hire. Fully expect to see remarkable improvement in fundraising and recruiting as a result.
Well, he worked under Alabama AD Greg Byrne, who used to work under Mitch. So there is a connection there but this seems to be a good hire nonetheless.
He is from UNC. He brought Nate Oats to Alabama. Izzo loved him at MSU. The dude understands the importance of basketball.
Love this hire.
Hope he holds UK basketball to a high standard and makes changes if needed ASAP after this season.
Hope he holds UK basketball to a high standard and makes changes if needed ASAP after this season.
Is it just me or could he pass as Will Stein’s brother?
The biggest key right here and the fundraising is a bonus!
It is absolutely not just you haha. A lot of people been noticing that. They really look like brothers
Youth is in.
Stein now this guy.
General theme being new era new ways with a focus on football.
Scoring/passing (Stein) and fundraising (Batt) are similar in that both are offensive.
I’m not an anti MB, CMS, or Cal guy. All did great things. All got older and very comfortable in hunkering down. Non of them were going to radically change.
MB wasn’t going to rock the boat 20-25 years in.
CMS crew, enablers, and fans clearly dug into running, D, hang in…6ish wins…
Cal was content and coasting too…was going to ride his ways out even after the game had changed from recruiting to game day Xs and Os had changed.
Mid 30s offensive FB coach, mid 40s fundraising gun slinging AD…
Strap in Dorothy cause we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Stein now this guy.
General theme being new era new ways with a focus on football.
Scoring/passing (Stein) and fundraising (Batt) are similar in that both are offensive.
I’m not an anti MB, CMS, or Cal guy. All did great things. All got older and very comfortable in hunkering down. Non of them were going to radically change.
MB wasn’t going to rock the boat 20-25 years in.
CMS crew, enablers, and fans clearly dug into running, D, hang in…6ish wins…
Cal was content and coasting too…was going to ride his ways out even after the game had changed from recruiting to game day Xs and Os had changed.
Mid 30s offensive FB coach, mid 40s fundraising gun slinging AD…
Strap in Dorothy cause we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Also something to keep an eye on, and let me provide this disclaimer that “I WANT IT TO WORK WITH POPE”, so I’m not saying anything to the contrary….Batt has a strong relationship with Oats. Belief by some on KSBoard is that the likelihood of Oats being the next coach at Kentucky just went up significantly, if Pope doesn’t knock it out of the park.
I'm glad so many of you are excited by this hire but I don't really understand all the love. It seems like it's not the worst hire and I'm glad they didn't hire someone connected to Mitch but to me there's absolutely nothing special about Batt and it seems very meh to me. Can someone rationally and logically explain why you think this is such a great hire and not just average?
This cant be stated enough. This, plus the method of the search itself tells us this is a welcomed new era for bbn. This (and stein's) hire were so much better executed you can tell we finally have Mitch's grimy grasp loosed from the program.
So, between new AD, Stein and Pope, nobody needs a comb? lol
Edit: sorry, I thought that in one of the pictures I saw, Batts had a buzz cut also.....nevermind.
I hope we have a good year too and honestly with Pope being one of us I honestly hope it works out to. I do see it now especially if he brought Oats to Alabama big strong chance if Pope runs out of gas again it won't be nothing for this guy to get the money raised to get rid of Pope and bring Oats right on in.
1. I am glad to move off Mitch's tree...no Marc Hill, Dwayne Peavy, etc...
2. Sounds like a fund raiser which matters in NIL era...and maybe not be so ultra conservative in paying players/JMI deals
3. The bigger part to me...is can he find talent for Football and BBall.
- Hired Brent Key at Ga Tech...whose been fantastic
- Hired Patt SUllivan back at Mich St....yet to be if he'll be a good re-hire from Northwestern
- HIred Damon Stoudamire as Ga BBall coach,...and he did a bad job and was fired
He's not got a ton of experience in identifying coaches....so we'll see if he has to hire Pope's replacement soon how well he can execute. I am assuming Stein will be fine for a good while.
2. Sounds like a fund raiser which matters in NIL era...and maybe not be so ultra conservative in paying players/JMI deals
3. The bigger part to me...is can he find talent for Football and BBall.
- Hired Brent Key at Ga Tech...whose been fantastic
- Hired Patt SUllivan back at Mich St....yet to be if he'll be a good re-hire from Northwestern
- HIred Damon Stoudamire as Ga BBall coach,...and he did a bad job and was fired
He's not got a ton of experience in identifying coaches....so we'll see if he has to hire Pope's replacement soon how well he can execute. I am assuming Stein will be fine for a good while.
His hiring is admittedly more of an unknown.
You hope he won’t have to hire for a long time in football.
And we may not have to worry about his hiring in basketball if you like Oats. That, or Pope kills it.
At least he is not controlled and influenced by Mitch.
Seems like a great hire. Young hungry AD, know as a great fundraiser, and no ties to Barnhart's cronyism. Young hungry Football coach. Young-ish Baseball and Basketball coaches.
I don't have much info on Batt, but he checks one major box for me: he's not Mitch Barnhart.
He fired the MSU football coach in under a year of being there. Pope doesn’t improve A LOT and he’s gone!
That’s an awfully hot coffee pot 
Ultra conservative in NIL deals while Will Stein is dominating MSU in recruiting. You just have to laugh at the joke that they are.
I am going to be on this guy’s a$$ from day one. MSU football is in the tank and this batt crazy guy has no idea of UK tradition. This is a tragedy!!! Damn you Mitch!!!
"I didn't bother to look into how Batt has done with building basketball programs, and until he makes MY site a lot of money, we'll just have to wait and see"