Bio Blast: Jay Bateman

Will Stein is starting to move swiftly. The new head coach at Kentucky has now made his two high-profile hires in his first week on the job. We are still awaiting official word from the university but we now know who will be calling plays on offense and defense. Once again, Stein has nabbed a coordinator with SEC experience.

Texas A&M defensive coordinator Jay Bateman will be leaving College Station to become the next defensive coordinator at Kentucky. The 52-year-old will be joining former LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan in Lexington. After providing some background information on Kentucky’s new OC, KSR is now taking a look at the new DC.

It’s Bio Blast time.

A long-time coach in FCS football

After his playing career at D-III Randolph Macon (Va.) came to an end, Jay Bateman got a quick start to his coaching career by working in high school. That ultimately led to a graduate assistant opportunity at D-III Hampton-Sydney. From there, Bateman landed a job as the defensive coordinator at Siena in 1999.

The defensive coach would then spend a dozen years in FCS football.

After one year as the defensive coordinator, Bateman was promoted to head coach at Siena. He was the youngest head coach in FCS football at the time at age 26. Siena’s football program then shutdown after the 2003 season and that led to a year spent at Richmond where he worked on the same staff as Mike Elko. Bateman then moved to Elon where he became Pete Lembo‘s defensive coordinator at age 32.

Bateman would spend eight years working with Lembo helping lead Elon to the FCS playoffs in 2009. The defensive coordinator followed the head coach to Ball State where Bateman got his first taste of FBS football in 2011.

A long run as an FBS defensive coordinator

Jay Bateman spent three seasons in the MAC working for Pete Lembo. He helped guide Ball State to a double-digit win season in 2013. That led to another opportunity. Bateman then left the MAC to work for Jeff Monken at Army.

During a five-year stint at West Point, Bateman helped Monken get the Army program off the ground and record double-digit win seasons in 2017 and 2018. The Black Knights finished the 2018 season ranked. Bateman also helped snap a 14-game losing streak to Army in 2016. That led to another opportunity.

Mack Brown hired Bateman away from Army to become his first defensive coordinator at North Carolina in 2019. The defensive coordinator spent three seasons in Chapel Hill and was part of a ranked team in 2020 that ended the season in the New Year’s Six. However, UNC had some poor defensive numbers and that led to Brown making a change.

Bateman landed on his feet when Billy Napier hired him to be the linebackers coach at Florida. After a two-year stint in Gainesville, Bateman landed another defensive coordinator gig at Texas A&M.

Kentucky’s new defensive coordinator has spent the last 15 seasons in the FBS. That run has included 13 seasons as a coordinator and seven consecutive years in a power conference.

Jay Bateman’s defensive coordinator stat profile

Year	Points Per Drive	Success Rate	EPA/Play	Yards Per Play	Red Zone TD Percentage	SP+ Ranking
North Carolina (2019)	1.94 (No. 40 nationally)	41.5% (No. 63 overall)	0.00 (No. 63 overall)	5.43 (No. 50 overall)	56.82% (No. 49 overall)	44
North Carolina (2020)	2.55 (No. 83 nationally)	41.9% (No. 61 overall)	0.08 (No. 90 overall)	5.80 (No. 74 overall)	63.04% (No. 66 overall)	53
North Carolina (2021)	2.76 (No. 105 nationally)	42.8% (No. 82 overall)	0.14 (No. 105 overall)	6.11 (No. 105 overall)	54.90% (No. 37 overall)	101
Texas A&M (2024)	1.90 (No. 36 nationally)	37.6% (No. 19 overall)	-0.05 (No. 34 overall)	5.49 (No. 62 overall)	57.89% (No. 57 overall)	20
Texas A&M (2025)	1.72 (No. 24 nationally)	35.4% (No. 5 nationally)	-0.07 (No. 18 nationally)	5.04 (No. 34 overall)	59.38% (No. 64 overall)	19

Jay Bateman did not call plays at Texas A&M in 2025 despite having the defensive coordinator title. Mike Elko handled those responsibilities. Things got sideways on the defensive coordinator at North Carolina after a solid debut season in 2019. The results were not much different at Army where Bateman’s units finished 121, 117, 73, 106, and 70 in ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

A strong recruiting track record

Jay Bateman has developed a strong recruiting reputation throughout his coaching career. In all of his power conference stops, the defensive coach has quickly made a big splash on the recruiting trail. The Virginia native has strong ties in the DMV and that has led to some significant recruiting wins. Bateman has also been able to successfully recruit in Florida and Texas.

Bateman has helped North Carolina, Florida, and Texas A&M all signed blue-chip prospects. Aaron Chiles, Jaden Robinson, and Myles Graham made up the linebacker platoon in Gainesville this season. He quickly became one of Elko’s most effective recruiters in College Station.

Will Stein’s latest hire should give Kentucky an upgrade in the recruiting department.