Georgia Tech eyes Alabama’s J Batt as subsequent AD

Georgia Tech has focused Alabama’s J Batt, the Crimson Tide‘s government deputy athletic director, to change into Tech’s subsequent athletic director, sources advised ESPN on Friday.

The search is predicted to conclude quickly after a number of remaining steps, and the rent is predicted to be formalized within the upcoming days, sources advised ESPN.

Batt has been at Alabama since 2017 and established himself as one of many nation’s high fundraisers. Since former Alabama deputy athletic director Jeff Purinton left for Arkansas State in Might, Batt has been the No. 2 within the athletic division with important roles in each the soccer and males’s basketball applications.

Batt’s title at Alabama is government deputy director of athletics, chief working officer and chief income officer, which showcases his inside and exterior capabilities. Batt got here to Alabama from East Carolina as one in all athletic director Greg Byrne’s early hires. He has been a part of Byrne’s government staff since then and been intimately concerned in all elements of the Alabama athletic division. He has been the lead administrator for a number of sports activities, together with males’s basketball.

The instant query for Batt will likely be Tech’s opening within the soccer program. Batt is predicted to switch athletic director Todd Stansbury, who was fired final month as a part of an overhaul for Tech’s athletic division.

Tech additionally fired soccer coach Geoff Collins on the identical time. Discovering Collins’ substitute is predicted to take up the overwhelming majority of Batt’s vitality early on within the job. Tech has made only one bowl sport since 2017 and in that point seen this system’s relevancy slip in Atlanta. As Tech has spiraled, Georgia has change into one of many elite applications within the sport thanks partially to important and relentless investments within the sport since hiring Kirby Good after the 2015 season.

A part of what Batt should do upon arriving at Tech will likely be reviving the varsity’s fundraising metabolism. Tech’s most up-to-date athletic administrators, Stansbury and Mike Bobinski, did not deliver fundraising experience to the desk. As outcomes and curiosity within the soccer program have waned, that has left the varsity with numerous work to assist energize the bottom.

Batt’s work elevating cash at Alabama included the launch of a 10-year, $600 million capital initiative that helped important renovations of Bryant-Denny Stadium. At ECU, he raised the fund elevating customary by 60% over the prior finest yr. He has additionally labored in fundraising at Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary and North Carolina.

Batt’s arrival at Tech will deliver him again to a convention that he competed in, labored in and grew up round. Batt was a goalie for the soccer staff at North Carolina, serving to win a nationwide title in 2001. He has each an undergraduate and graduate diploma from UNC and labored at Maryland as the varsity transitioned from the ACC to the Massive Ten. He additionally grew up in Charlottesville, giving him a decades-long historical past of being round ACC sports activities.

Batt received acknowledged in 2021 as one in all Sports activities Enterprise Journal’s Forty Beneath 40.