J Batt is 'humbled and honored' to replace Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky

A new era of Kentucky athletics begins with the hiring of J Batt. The former Georgia Tech and Michigan State department head is the first athletic director in Lexington not name Mitch Barnhart since 2002. That was a long-time ago.

Barnhart’s Kentucky tenure will officially end on June 30. Batt isn’t waiting for that date to start his new job in Lexington. The 44-year-old has hit the ground running in Lexington but he wanted to recognize who he is replacing when speaking to media members on Monday evening.

“Want to appreciate Mitch Barnhart. He’s done an incredible job of building that championship standard and I’m humbled and honored to follow Mitch,” Batt said. “This place is built for championship excellence to continue. It’s built for this moment.”

Barnhart’s tenure in Lexington lasted a long time. The Wildcats won a men’s basketball national title in 2012. The football team had a pair of double-digit wins campaigns in 2018 and 2021. Kentucky baseball made the program’s first College World Series appearance in 2024. Women’s basketball has made the Elite Eight three times. Volleyball won a national title. Softball made the College World Series in 2014. There were numerous All-Americans and plenty of memorable wins. Kentucky also attempted to adapt to the new era by establishing Champions Blue LLC. as a private holding company created to help navigate the NIL world and enhance revenue. J Batt is taking over as the new CEO of this enterprise. The new leader in Lexington believes he is “in an incredible place” because of the Big Blue Nation and the long run by Barnhart.

Stability, alignment, and standard were three words mentioned numerous times by Batt during his meeting with the media. The new athletic director wanted to thank Barnhart for his time served at Kentucky. Now the real work begins but Batt wanted to honor the person that had this job before him.

“That stability, the tremendous work that’s already been done here, feel great about it. Big shoes. Big shoes,” Batt said. “And I’ll work every day to fill that standard.”