Michigan State is turning to Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae to fill the same role in East Lansing, with school officials and president Kevin Guskiewicz making the hire, sources within the administration confirmed to Spartan Nation on Monday morning.
Bartholomae will replace J Batt, who left for Kentucky. Jon Palumbo had been serving as interim athletic director since July 10.
The move had been widely expected inside the industry once Batt departed. Bartholomae’s location at Western Michigan, along with his track record in fundraising and across multiple sports, made him an easy name to circle. MSU will owe Western Michigan a buyout in the neighborhood of $5 million, though most of that is covered by the $3.95 million Michigan State is receiving from Kentucky for Batt.
Bartholomae’s résumé at Western Michigan is built on real numbers. Last month, the school announced a record fundraising year in FY26, bringing in more than $21.8 million from 3,800 unique donors. That total marked a 473% jump in donations since Bartholomae took over the department in January 2022, and he has more than doubled the number of unique donors.
The wins matter, too, and Western Michigan has had plenty under his watch. Bartholomae inherited a football program that needed a reset and made the call to move on from Tim Lester after a 5-7 season in 2022.
He hired Lance Taylor, a decorated position coach with one year as an offensive coordinator and no previous head coaching experience, and the gamble paid off. Taylor led the Broncos to a MAC championship in Year 3, and Bartholomae extended him through 2030 in December.
He also presided over a run of historic success in men’s ice hockey. Western Michigan earned its first NCAA Tournament win in 2022, then captured its first NCHC regular-season and tournament titles in 2025 before winning its first national championship that same year. It was the school’s first national title in any sport in 60 years.
Across all sports, Western Michigan finished first in the MAC in the Director’s Cup standings for the last three academic years.
Before arriving in Kalamazoo, Bartholomae was the executive deputy athletic director at Oregon State, where he overlapped extensively with former Michigan State head football coach Jonathan Smith. One of his major responsibilities there was leading the Reser Stadium renovation project, an experience that could matter at MSU as the school looks toward Spartan Stadium upgrades through its “For Sparta” capital campaign.
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