UK's New AD J. Batt on KSR About Direction of Sports

[Farsight Clone]

What is your take?

Pope hired Keegan Brown this offseason to help build the team entering year three and named him director of roster management. Fans called for an official general manager title, and that was the Kentucky coach’s pivot.

Football under Will Stein, however, not only hired a GM, but also an assistant general manager, among other support staff roles. That’s seen a dramatic shift this week alone, with Pat Biondo unexpectedly stepping down as GM and assistant GM Pete Nochta earning the permanent promotion, but the point remains that Stein has not been shy about welcoming any and all help in his push to help the Wildcats reach national prominence.

Does Batt expect something similar in basketball, stressing to Pope that more is necessary in today’s Wild, Wild West? He’s going to talk with all of his head coaches about strategy and navigating a crazy time in college athletics.

“I’ll tell you this: it’s high on my list to dig into our player management strategy broadly,” Batt said. “I think part of what you look at is we’ve made this evolution in college sports from where that was never a part of the equation at all to today, where — we’ll call it broadly player management. It’s super important. There is delta to be had there. There is margin of excellence to be had by investing in that space.

“So, listen, I’m going to get with Mark. I’ve gotten with Will (Stein). We’re gonna get with Kenny (Brooks). We know — listen, there is NIL and revenue share across a bunch of different sports, and so adding capability, expertise, value around player management at the department level is important.”


Here is the audio if anyone has missed it.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

He needs to get on Pope for sure.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Cliche and shallow end of the pool talk. He is new, so not going to judge at this point. But that was fluff. Did not expect otherwise.

 

[Farsight Clone]

He needs to get on Pope for sure.

Yes. I think he will have confidence in Pope for now. But again things change. Also, he said that BBN's voice matters and he's looking forward to hearing from us. He even said email is fine. I know for a fact that if Pope's 3rd year is similar to his 2nd, he will be hearing from a lot of us.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Football ≠ basketball. There’s a lot more players and roster considerations of a football team. Pope has already addressed the GM question this offseason and I thought did a great job in how he articulated it. They’re going beyond simply having a person who handles all of the general duties that are typically associated with the “GM” title in college basketball. They’ve separated this by function to take advantage of the specialization of certain aspects of managing a college basketball program. They’ll still be adding more people to that staff. There is no single “GM”. Comparing Stein’s administrative handling to anyone is unwise. While I hope he crushes at Kentucky, so far he has done nothing but win off-season PR and recruiting. That’s not a slight, since that’s the only thing he has been asked to do so far. Once he gets on the field and we see results, then we can determine how effective his model was. Don’t forget Pope won the off-season PR pretty heavy in his first offseason and now a decent chunk of you have already decided he’s worse than Gillispie. I’ll reserve judgment about the GM handling after we see more results.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Read between the lines, he repeatedly praised Mitch. LOL

 

[Snarks]

Hopefully he slaps Pope back to reality. Pope hasn’t won enough to be as arrogant as he is. Dude has a career 60% win percentage

 

[RunninRichie]

Read between the lines, he repeatedly praised Mitch. LOL

What did you expect him to do?

 

[LongliveWildcatDon]

Answered most questions like a fence sitting politician. Matt and crew acted like he said he would never get rid of secondary sports or the UL football game.

Paraphrasing but he said he would fight to keep secondary sports and not that they would never go away.

On the UL game he just said he’s been and no conversations about that. Not that it wasn’t going away.

Words matter and he left a lot of wiggle room in his answers. However, he is a breath of fresh air and seems to have his eyes on pushing UK athletics towards modern times.

 

[Farsight Clone]

Answered most questions like a fence sitting politician. Matt and crew acted like he said he would never get rid of secondary sports or the UL football game.

Paraphrasing but he said he would fight to keep secondary sports and not that they would never go away.

On the UL game he just said he’s been and no conversations about that. Not that it wasn’t going away.

Words matter and he left a lot of wiggle room in his answers. However, he is a breath of fresh air and seems to have his eyes on pushing UK athletics towards modern times.

To me it felt like Matt was trying to push to see if the new AD would be more about the fundraising and business side of the job. I know he has only been on campus for 48 hours. However, I really hope he has the balls to do the right thing to excel Football and Basketball forward.

 

[Farsight Clone]

Read between the lines, he repeatedly praised Mitch. LOL

 

[LongliveWildcatDon]

To me it felt like Matt was trying to push to see if the new AD would be more about the fundraising and business side of the job. I know he has only been on campus for 48 hours. However, I really hope he has the balls to do the right thing to excel Football and Basketball forward.

I agree and should have added that to my response. I wasn't really blasted him for deflecting the questions or choosing his words. If I had just showed up on the job I would have done the same. I'm sure he has a lot of ideas and projects he wants to implement but he has to get his feet wet before knowing what will and wont' work here.

 

[NociHTTP]

Answered most questions like a fence sitting politician. Matt and crew acted like he said he would never get rid of secondary sports or the UL football game.

Paraphrasing but he said he would fight to keep secondary sports and not that they would never go away.

On the UL game he just said he’s been and no conversations about that. Not that it wasn’t going away.

Words matter and he left a lot of wiggle room in his answers. However, he is a breath of fresh air and seems to have his eyes on pushing UK athletics towards modern times.

I don't know. To me it sounded like Pope has been elusive or untouchable and that Batt has established some ground rules and parameters that he'll be touching base with Pope on. He's saying that revenue will be shared, but that they'll also not just hand out contracts willy-nilly, Pope will have to justify things.

 

[TheKentuckyKid]

He used a lot of words to not say much.

 

[LongliveWildcatDon]

I don't know. To me it sounded like Pope has been elusive or untouchable and that Batt has established some ground rules and parameters that he'll be touching base with Pope on. He's saying that revenue will be shared, but that they'll also not just hand out contracts willy-nilly, Pope will have to justify things.

2 things will decide Pope's control. Pope has a great year and has enough power as basketball coach at UK to get his way. Pope doesn't have a good year and will no longer be the coach to make the call on GM.

 

[Beatle Bum]

I think Jones screwed up the interview in predicable and understandable ways. He focused on things Batt just is not able to answer after being on the job for a minute. Asking about strengths beyond money acquisition was good, but yielded what was essentially a non answer. I would have asked questions about his past.

ex. : Did you think it was a risk hiring Fitz to be MSU’s next football coach?

You have had to fire coaches in the past, what factors have been involved with those decisions?

What was the process involved with hiring Damon Stoudamire to be Tech’s basketball coach? Did you use a consulting firm, have advisors, how did he come to your list?

We would have learned more unless Matt had an agreement to avoid tough questions.

 

[Goingfor9]

So far this guy, I’ve been unimpressed. I know it’s just a couple weeks on the job, but he didn’t hit with a splash.. I mean, I have not heard one thing from this guy that leads me to believe he understands the greatness UK basketball. Seems like he’s equating everything like the last idiot that ran our athletic programs. Listen Dude you’re best chance at a title is through our Basketball program.

 

[Skyguyb27]

He’s been on the scene for 2 days before this. Why would he go on record of anything without reading fine print. He’s a smart man not to make concrete statements. To me he is a buisness man that also understands the tradition. I’m sure he’s gonna lay ground rules and give the coach the choice to perform great under those rules or move on. I’m ok with that as a fan. The college NIL and funding game has changed and some people haven’t. Get on board and do your job well or get out.

 

[NociHTTP]

2 things will decide Pope's control. Pope has a great year and has enough power as basketball coach at UK to get his way. Pope doesn't have a good year and will no longer be the coach to make the call on GM.

You're making it sound like it's an "he wins and we end up sucking" vs "he loses and we can have our professional basketball team" argument. It's not, and I wasn't even suggesting that. I'm saying that when you have new management coming in, to anything really, does that manager gravitate toward the weak links or does he somehow, by magic (aka been steered), gravitate toward the strongest links? S/he does the latter, gets a firm grasp on things from those who the new manager has been told are the go-to people, and then goes to areas of struggle. Pope has to hear the war drums and hooves approaching, and he'll certainly be coaching like his career depends on it.

 

[NociHTTP]

He used a lot of words to not say much.

He's new to the program, and is surely working out how to address issues in the basketball program.

 

[LongliveWildcatDon]

You're making it sound like it's an "he wins and we end up sucking" vs "he loses and we can have our professional basketball team" argument. It's not, and I wasn't even suggesting that. I'm saying that when you have new management coming in, to anything really, does that manager gravitate toward the weak links or does he somehow, by magic (aka been steered), gravitate toward the strongest links? S/he does the latter, gets a firm grasp on things from those who the new manager has been told are the go-to people, and then goes to areas of struggle. Pope has to hear the war drums and hooves approaching, and he'll certainly be coaching like his career depends on it.

That's not at all what I was saying.

If Pope has a Final Four caliber year then the facts are he, as the basketball coach at UK, will have the ability to do what he wants with the program. And I think will have earned the right to do so.

If he has another blah yr he most likely wont have any control over what it done because he will be gone.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

So far this guy, I’ve been unimpressed. I know it’s just a couple weeks on the job, but he didn’t hit with a splash.. I mean, I have not heard one thing from this guy that leads me to believe he understands the greatness UK basketball. Seems like he’s equating everything like the last idiot that ran our athletic programs. Listen Dude you’re best chance at a title is through our Basketball program.

He's a football guy, but he believes basketball can and will improve

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

He's a football guy, but he believes basketball can and will improve

His primary job is to shepherd the #1 college basketball program of all time, I would hope he understands that.

 

[Anon794131]

Odder is the Michigan State President off to Clemson; apparently not. From their boards, this "will I or will I not" President had no interest in trying to retain Batt. Michigan State had/has major leadership issues.

 

[mhs1964]

I think Jones screwed up the interview in predicable and understandable ways. He focused on things Batt just is not able to answer after being on the job for a minute. Asking about strengths beyond money acquisition was good, but yielded what was essentially a non answer. I would have asked questions about his past.

ex. : Did you think it was a risk hiring Fitz to be MSU’s next football coach?

You have had to fire coaches in the past, what factors have been involved with those decisions?

What was the process involved with hiring Damon Stoudamire to be Tech’s basketball coach? Did you use a consulting firm, have advisors, how did he come to your list?

We would have learned more unless Matt had an agreement to avoid tough questions.

I don’t think anyone would do a cross examination for a hostile witness with your first public interview. Anyone with a history will have some bad hires. Your questions should have been asked during the screening and interview process.

 

[BigBluefoot]

Cliche and shallow end of the pool talk. He is new, so not going to judge at this point. But that was fluff. Did not expect otherwise.

Still missing your daddy Mitch?

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

So far this guy, I’ve been unimpressed. I know it’s just a couple weeks on the job, but he didn’t hit with a splash.. I mean, I have not heard one thing from this guy that leads me to believe he understands the greatness UK basketball. Seems like he’s equating everything like the last idiot that ran our athletic programs. Listen Dude you’re best chance at a title is through our Basketball program.

You caught two laugh emojis but so far I agree with you. I’ve heard a couple platitudes about basketball level not dropping but he seems to be an all-sports guy but certainly football first aka the Mitch philosophy. Many of our fans already agree with the Mitch philosophy as it is. All you have to do is say “football will generate more money for the basketball program” and you’ll get a lot of buy in. Barely anyone pushes back to ask how exactly that will work in actuality. Worried we have another Mitch but you aren’t allowed to think it or say it during the “he’s perfect in every conceivable way” honeymoon phase. I’ve heard nothing to believe this guy understands this is a basketball school whatsoever.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

You caught two laugh emojis but so far I agree with you. I’ve heard a couple platitudes about basketball level not dropping but he seems to be an all-sports guy but certainly football first aka the Mitch philosophy. Many of our fans already agree with the Mitch philosophy as it is. All you have to do is say “football will generate more money for the basketball program” and you’ll get a lot of buy in. Barely anyone pushes back to ask how exactly that will work in actuality. Worried we have another Mitch but you aren’t allowed to think it or say it during the “he’s perfect in every conceivable way” honeymoon phase. I’ve heard nothing to believe this guy understands this is a basketball school whatsoever.

Football needs to be priority just for money generation but we need to invest that extra money into our bread and butter and get back to championship contention. If we compete in the SEC and for a playoff birth every so often while getting our Basketball program rolling again everyone will be overjoyed.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Football needs to be priority just for money generation but we need to invest that extra money into our bread and butter and get back to championship contention. If we compete in the SEC and for a playoff birth every so often while getting our Basketball program rolling again everyone will be overjoyed.

How does the money generate more by becoming a football school? If you go do the math for the average ticket costs for the empty seats last season and assume full capacity every single game at Kroger field it’s not as much money as people are saying.

I asked ChatGPT pro this:


If Kentucky football would have been maximum capacity at every game in Kroger field in the 2025 season, how much more revenue would have likely been generated from ticket sales that what was already generated?

Here was the response:


Estimated additional ticket revenue:


about $1.1 million


Kentucky played seven home games at Kroger Field in 2025 and averaged 57,779 fans per game. Kroger Field’s listed capacity is 61,000, leaving an average shortfall of:


61,000-57,779=3,221\text{ seats per game}


Across seven games:


3,221\times7=22,547\text{ additional tickets}


Kentucky’s 2025 season-ticket prices generally worked out to roughly $43–$79 per game, depending on location, before accounting for associated donations. Because the remaining inventory would probably have been concentrated in less-expensive sections, approximately $50 per ticket is a reasonable blended estimate.


22,547\times \$50=\boxed{\$1,127,350}


Reasonable range

Average revenue per additional ticket	Added revenue
$40	$901,880
$50	$1,127,350
$60	$1,352,820

Therefore, Kentucky likely left approximately $900,000–$1.35 million in potential ticket revenue unrealized, with about $1.1 million as the best central estimate. The attendance and capacity figures indicate Kentucky filled roughly 94.7% of Kroger Field’s available seats during the season.


This is ticket revenue only. Additional parking, concessions and merchandise spending from 22,547 more attendees could plausibly have pushed the total incremental game-day revenue closer to $1.7–$2.0 million. One caveat is that announced attendance commonly reflects tickets distributed rather than people physically passing through the gates, so this should be treated as an informed estimate rather than an audited revenue calculation.


^ I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m just pointing out the obvious. We have good football attendance already because it is cheaper to visit Kentucky football games. The way they are going to generate more football money is raising football tickets to insane levels like the rest of the SEC. Let’s see how that works out.

I’d rather just stop with the Mitch 2.0 stuff already.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

His primary job is to shepherd the #1 college basketball program of all time, I would hope he understands that.

His primary job is to strengthen all sports, and generate revenue. Football needs the focus and everything else is gravy.

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

His primary job is to strengthen all sports, and generate revenue. Football needs the focus and everything else is gravy.

everything else is not gravy, I think we are currently proving you can't just buy the basketball roster and success you want. you have to have the right people in charge.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

everything else is not gravy, I think we are currently proving you can't just buy the basketball roster and success you want. you have to have the right people in charge.

I think Batt is capable of hiring the right coach for basketball. I'm not sure why this is rocket science.

if you're talking the AD, Mitch was neither a football nor basketball AD. He was slow in bringing in facilities changes for football and was horrible with hires/contracts for basketball and football.

Personally, take care of football and make us competitive and profitable in the conference first. Then Hire a basketball coach who has won conference titles instead of former players for sentimental reasons.

I'm a football first guy, and I make no apologies for it.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

His primary job is to shepherd the #1 college basketball program of all time, I would hope he understands that.

I respectably disagree.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

Football needs to be priority just for money generation but we need to invest that extra money into our bread and butter and get back to championship contention. If we compete in the SEC and for a playoff birth every so often while getting our Basketball program rolling again everyone will be overjoyed.

Basketball is its own profit center and a VERY profitable unit. It doesn't need football to chip in. How many schools can lay claim to this?

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

He's a football guy, but he believes basketball can and will improve

In the current state of college athletics this is the correct stance. Football is king moneymaker. That's what matters. Fortunately UK has a basketball program that doesn't lose money, which is a huge bonus.

Non revenue sports are just doomed. That's just a matter of time.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

In the current state of college athletics this is the correct stance. Football is king moneymaker. That's what matters. Fortunately UK has a basketball program that doesn't lose money, which is a huge bonus.

Non revenue sports are just doomed. That's just a matter of time.

Care to explain how much more revenue football will generate with additional focus and exactly how? Also, why is it that the top 15 in college basketball and college football from the last season had very little commonality? Could it be that everyone parrots what they hear without testing it first? I see no reason to believe you HAVE to build with football first. If that were the case, Gonzaga, Duke, Kansas and UConn would be up a creek without a paddle. Instead, all of those teams are dominating us mercilessly this decade.

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

Care to explain how much more revenue football will generate with additional focus and exactly how? Also, why is it that the top 15 in college basketball and college football from the last season had very little commonality? Could it be that everyone parrots what they hear without testing it first? I see no reason to believe you HAVE to build with football first. If that were the case, Gonzaga, Duke, Kansas and UConn would be up a creek without a paddle. Instead, all of those teams are dominating us mercilessly this decade.

Look at the fat sec network tv deal. That's all football driven. Can also look at the revenue share split. That's just for starters.

I love both uk basketball and football but its just ignoring facts to argue football doesn't drive total revenue.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Look at the fat sec network tv deal. That's all football driven. Can also look at the revenue share split. That's just for starters.

I love both uk basketball and football but its just ignoring facts to argue football doesn't drive total revenue.

We didn’t get that deal because of how good we are at football. We got it for simply being in the SEC.

 

[Beatle Bum]

I don’t think anyone would do a cross examination for a hostile witness with your first public interview. Anyone with a history will have some bad hires. Your questions should have been asked during the screening and interview process.

I question your characterization of questions about how he made decisions in the past. Fitz was a good hire, IMO. As was firing his predecessor. Stoudamire was obviously a mistake, what he learned from that is only cross if he is hypersensitive. As was, the interview was mostly fluff and cliche and pleasantries without substance.

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

We didn’t get that deal because of how good we are at football. We got it for simply being in the SEC.

I never brought up how good either program is. Just how much money they make. Football drives everything across the country.

One reason we were so good as basketball for so long was because we spent big money there while others didn't. Since the big sec tv deal, that stopped being the case. Now we're middle of the SEC pack in basketball because others are spending money there too. It isn't a coincidence we're about to have our worst basketball decade ever.

The sec wanted to mandate 85-10-5 revenue split. Mitch vetoed it but you can bet his football split was no worse than 75. That's because even here, football is financially the king.

So we'll see j batt approaches it but the smart thing is to match everyone else and just screw the non revenue sports.