Georgia Tech has named J Batt its new athletic director, the university announced Friday. He will take over the role on Oct. 24.

Batt comes to Georgia Tech after working for five years at Alabama, most recently as its executive deputy AD, chief operating officer and chief revenue officer. He’s also made stops at East Carolina as the senior associate athletics director and at Maryland as the associate AD.

Join us in welcoming J Batt as the new Georgia Tech Director of Athletics #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/t0HmhEIwjL

— Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (@GTAthletics) October 14, 2022

The Yellow Jackets had been searching for a new athletic director and football coach after firing coach Geoff Collins and AD Todd Stansbury in late September. Associate head coach Brent Key, a former Georgia Tech team captain, has been serving as interim head coach, while Frank Neville, the chief of staff and senior vice president of strategic initiatives, is the interim AD.

Advertisement

The day after Collins and Stansbury’s departures, Neville said Georgia Tech planned to hire a new AD before hiring a football coach. According to Neville, the school wants to “give the new AD time to have the football season or at least the tail end of it” to evaluate coaches.

The Yellow Jackets sit 3-3 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play. Since Kay took over as interim coach, the team has won both of its games — matchups against ACC opponents Pitt and Duke.

Batt returns to the ACC, where he won a national title on UNC’s 2001 men’s soccer team. He graduated from UNC with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, as well as a master’s degree in sports administration.

Those familiar with Batt describe him as a big-time fundraiser, as he was largely responsible for the money that went into East Carolina’s TowneBank Tower addition to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 2019. That ought to play well at Georgia Tech, whose financial woes have been well-documented by The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz. Alabama AD Greg Byrne gave Batt plenty of responsibilities with the Tide, including oversight of the men’s basketball program.

But the biggest question is how Batt will handle hiring a football coach. Multiple other finalists for this job had deeper football backgrounds. And as the recently fired Stansbury learned the hard way, if you make the right football hire, everything else fades into the background.

ESPN was first to report news of Georgia Tech focusing on Batt for the job.

(Photo: Brett Davis / USA Today)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57km9wa3FkaXxzfJFrZmpoX2aBcLPEqKmgoZFiwaavx2ahZpqRqcFurdOho56smZh6pbXRnpqtp6Jk