Georgia Tech named Alabama’s Jay Batt as its next recruit

Georgia Tech has targeted Alabama’s Jay Batt, the Crimson Tide’s head athletic director, to be Tech’s next athletic director, sources told ESPN. The search is expected to be completed soon after a few final steps and the hiring is expected to be formalized in the coming days.

Batt has been in Alabama since 2017 and has established himself as one of the nation’s top fundraisers. Batt is No. 2 in the athletic department with significant roles in the football and men’s basketball programs since former Alabama deputy athletic director Jeff Purinton left for Arkansas State in May. Batt’s titles include deputy athletic director, chief operating officer and chief revenue officer at Alabama, reflecting his internal and external capabilities. Batt came to Alabama from East Carolina as one of athletic director Greg Byrne’s early hires. Since then, he has been part of Byrne’s executive team and has been closely involved in every aspect of Alabama’s athletics department. He was the head coach for many sports, including men’s basketball.

Batt’s immediate question is that Tech opens up in the football program. Batey is expected to replace athletic director Todd Stansbury, who was fired last month.

Tech fired football coach Geoff Collins at the same time. Finding a replacement for Collins is expected to take most of Batt’s power early in his career. Tech has only made one bowl game since 2017, and in that time the program’s relevance has been seen in Atlanta. While Tech has rolled around, Georgia has become one of the top programs in the sport, making significant and consistent investments in the sport since hiring Kirby Smart after the 2015 season.

Part of what BatTech needs to do when it arrives is to rewire the school’s fundraising metabolism. Tech’s most recent athletic directors, Stansbury and Mike Bobinski, didn’t bring fundraising expertise to the table. His grades and dwindling interest in the football program led the school to drop several jobs to bolster the foundation.

Batty’s fundraising efforts at Alabama include the launch of a 10-year, $600 million capital initiative that will help with a major renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium. At ECU, they increased their fundraising levels by 60 percent from their previous best year. He also worked on fundraising in Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary, and North Carolina.

Coming to Tech brings Batty back to the conference he competed in, worked in and grew up around. Batt was the goalie for the North Carolina soccer team, which he helped win the 2001 national title. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from UNC and worked at Maryland during the school’s transition from the ACC to the Big Ten. He also grew up in Charlottesville, giving him a decades-long history around ACC sports.

Bati in 2010 He was recognized as one of the Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 in 2021.