Benton Harbor — Michigan State is still looking for a president after Kevin Guskiewicz took the same position at Clemson on May 27. However, the Spartans believe they’re retaining a key administrator he hired.
According to Brianna Scott, chair of the Michigan State Board of Trustees, her expectation is that J Batt remains athletic director, even though a clause cuts his buyout in half should he decide to leave for another school.
“My understanding is he’s still on board,” Scott said.
Batt, 44, is approaching the one-year anniversary of his start date as Michigan State athletic director on June 17. And it’s been a busy first year. Batt hired multiple executives to his executive team. He swapped football coaches with the firing of Jonathan Smith and hiring of Pat Fitzgerald. And perhaps most significantly, he created a third-party entity, Spartan Ventures, to handle Michigan State’s athletics revenue generation and multimedia rights. Spartan Ventures and its for-profit arm, Spartan Media Ventures LLC, is expected to launch July 1.
Guskiewicz’s departure created some turbulence for Michigan State, especially since his relationship with Batt, which dated back 25 years to Batt’s own days as a student-athlete at North Carolina, was a key factor in his decision to come to Michigan State. Batt directly reported to Guskiewicz.
That relationship showed up in the language to Batt’s six-year, $12.6 million contract which included a clause dictating if Guskiewicz is no longer president, Batt’s liquidated buyout is cut by 50%. If another school were to hire Batt away, the buyout would cost just $2.5 million — compared to a previous $5 million, with that number to go down as Batt progresses into further contract years.
There are two athletic director positions open this hiring cycle, at Wisconsin and at Virginia Tech. The latter is one of intrigue for someone with Batt’s résumé: a Virginia native who has worked extensively in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia Tech also has its own third-party entity, Hokie Ventures.
At least right now, the expectation is that Batt will remain at Michigan State, so far as Scott can say. She noted that the Board of Trustees has not spoken to Batt directly about the topic, citing that it would be “improper” since he directly reports to Guskiewicz. But the empirical evidence suggests his retention.
“(Batt) actually has participated or sent someone on his behalf for meetings, etc. He’s still working. And so I don’t anticipate any changes,” Scott said. “Certainly, I don’t have a crystal ball, but we’ll deal with those as they become something that we have to deal with. But until now, I think status quo, and he’s continuing to do the work.”
Interim president will fill Guskiewicz’s spot on Spartan Ventures board
Batt and Guskiewicz are both members of the seven-person board created in January to lead Spartan Ventures. So is Scott, alongside chair Phil Hickey (Chair), April Clobes, Rick Lasch and Aaron Zeigler.
In the wake of Guskiewicz’s departure, Scott said that his role on the board will be filled by an interim, as the seat is occupied positionally by the acting MSU president.
“The beauty of Spartan Ventures and the governing documents for Spartan Ventures, as well as Spartan Media Ventures, is that everything is related and framed as a position versus a person,” Scott said. “So you take the person and the names out — you take my name out, and you look at my position as the board chair. You do the same with the president, and so whoever sits in that position, it will apply to that person just as much as it applied to Kevin. And in that way the document doesn’t have to be redrafted every time there’s a change in leadership.”
Michigan State has not yet named an interim president as Guskiewicz is still performing his role before his departure for Clemson. When that interim is named, and after that the next president of Michigan State, those who occupy those seats will be on the Spartan Ventures board.
Guskiewicz and Batt both cited “alignment” as a key resource for Michigan State with them at the helm, and they showed it in their support for Spartan Ventures, including the procurement of a $100 million investment from megadonors Greg and Dawn Williams to seed it. However, that alignment is thrown off with Guskiewicz’s seat open. Whether or not the next president will be a proponent of Spartan Ventures is unknown.
Guskiewicz’s departure does create some instability at a pivotal time, with Spartan Ventures expected to launch next month. The program is still a go. In fact, Michigan State’s athletics budget, approved at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, is structured around it.
The process of Spartan Ventures’ creation created some tension. Members of the Board, including trustees Mike Balow, Dennis Denno and Rema Vassar, urged more transparency in the process of its creation. In order to view some documents, Spartan Ventures required trustees to sign a non-disclosure agreement. That caused public dissent, something that Guskiewicz cited as a reason for his departure.
Trustee Sandy Pierce, who is the MSU board’s finance committee chair, did sign the NDA and viewed “every document” alongside Scott. She came back with a glowing review.
“I understand now why we were asked to sign an NDA to look at the documents,” Pierce said, “and that’s because if they were released or leaked, we would not have a competitive advantage against every other university in this country. Period. End of story. Trust me, the advantages to us as a university, not just athletics, are enormous over time.”
Advantages that will depend on future leadership to see through.
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan State expects to keep AD J Batt after Kevin Guskiewicz’s departure
