Kentucky, Michigan State reach buyout agreement for athletics director J Batt
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- J Batt will start as Kentucky’s athletics director July 28.
- Michigan State and Kentucky negotiated Batt’s buyout down to $3.95 million.
- The president’s office retains oversight of the athletics department until Batt starts.
J Batt has finalized a start date for his job as UK’s new athletics director.
Batt, who was hired last month to replace the retiring Mitch Barnhart, will start at Kentucky on July 28, UK announced Thursday. The announcement ends a period of uncertainty regarding Batt’s transition from Michigan State to Kentucky.
UK announced Batt as its next athletics director and CEO of Champions Blue LLC on June 15 but said at the time he would start the job at some point no earlier than July 1. Barnhart’s last day on the job was June 30.
The uncertainty appeared to result from a clause in Batt’s Michigan State contract that would drop the amount he owed the university for leaving depending on whether Kevin Guskiewicz was still president there.
Batt’s contract specified he owed Michigan State $5 million if he left the school before July 1, 2027, but that buyout would be cut in half if Guskiewicz was no longer president.
Guskiewicz announced in May he was leaving Michigan State for Clemson but had not actually departed the job when Batt was hired by UK. Earlier this week, Guskiewicz announced he had changed his mind and would instead stay at Michigan State.
That announcement appeared to set the buyout UK would have to pay Michigan State to hire Batt at $5 million, but the schools negotiated the payment to $3.95 million instead, to be paid between now and July 1, 2027, according to UK’s news release.
In that news release, Batt said “from my first discussions with President (Eli) Capilouto and others at UK, I was certain that this is the absolute right opportunity for us” and called the athletics department at Kentucky “well positioned for continued success in the shifting college athletics landscape.”
UK has not named an interim athletics director. The president’s office retains oversight of the athletics department until Batt starts his new job.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM.