When news broke that Kentucky president Elip Capiluto had found his Mitch Barnhart successor, fans immediately began to search out all the information they could find out about Michigan St. AD Jason “J” Batt. After doing a little digging of my own, I gotta be honest, you should be ecstatic. Batt started as an NCAA National Champion at North Carolina, winning the soccer title in 2001 (shout-out to the World Cup fans).. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. Under Batt, Georgia Tech qualified 14 of 17 varsity programs for postseason competition of some sort. The football team earned back-to-back bowl berths for the first time since 2013-14. And in traditional Mitch Barnhart fashion, Batt spreads the wealth around.. In 2024-25, Georgia Tech was one of just nine schools nationally that earned postseason berths in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, and baseball.. But for BBN, his time at Alabama is probably the most tantalizing.. From 2017-2022, Batt was with the Crimson Tide and served as the lead admin for a number of sports, including basketball. That matters because it shows that Batt will be able to understand exactly what it takes to build an SEC winner on the hardwood. He worked with Avery Johnson for the first two years before helping elevate the program with Nate Oats. And it gets better.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. Batt is seen as one of the best fundraisers in the country. ESPN notes he played a big role in helping Alabama “launch of a 10-year, $600 million capital initiative that supported significant renovations of Bryant-Denny Stadium. At East Carolina, he improved the fundraising standard by 60% over the prior best year.”. That kind of knowledge in the NIL world is hard to beat. Matt Jones was told that he would be “100 out of 10” as a hire:. Hearing that is music to my ears. Mitch was often slow to the changes needed to really put UK in a place where they could be competitive in the NIL world. Having someone willing to get in and do that work, plus having the ability to fundraise, is crucial.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. The one downside is the dude hasn’t been able to stay at one place for longer than 5 years, but that in itself may not be a problem either. You can wear out your welcome in a place pretty fast nowadays.. How do you feel about Batt possibly taking over at UK?