Michigan State has a big decision to make in the near future.
Athletic director J Batt is — officially, officially, officially now — headed to Kentucky. An MSU spokesperson has said he’s “transitioned away from operational duties” with the school and will use up remaining vacation time before starting at UK later this month. Kentucky will pay Michigan State $3.95 million as part of a negotiated buyout, which is a pretty large sum for an AD deal.
Palumbo in the Interim Seat
As Spartan Nation reported back when Batt was finalizing his deal with the Wildcats, Jon Palumbo is the Spartans’ interim athletic director. The school made that official this past Friday.
Kevin Guskiewicz said on Friday via a press release that he will look at “both external and internal” candidates for the permanent athletic director job “over the coming weeks and months.” Guskiewicz also recently announced last Monday that he would be returning to East Lansing after initially accepting the president role at Clemson. His formally pending departure is almost certainly a major reason why Batt quickly considered his options elsewhere.
Alas, Guskiewicz will certainly have a ton of influence over who eventually replaces Batt permanently. Having the right athletic director has always been important, but it feels like there is an added emphasis on the position nowadays…