Dan Bartholomae is making the financial mission at Michigan State football pretty clear: spend enough to matter, then push higher.
In a letter to Spartan Nation on Thursday, the new athletic director laid out his priorities just a little over a month into the job, and the biggest one was impossible to miss. Bartholomae said he wants the football program resourced to be competitive right away, a stance that felt refreshingly direct for a Michigan State AD to say out loud.
He doubled down on that idea during a recent appearance on the LockedOn Spartans podcast with Matt Sheehan, where he said Michigan State needs to get into the top half of spending first and, once that happens, move into the top third of the Big Ten.
That “top-third” goal had been floating around among MSU insiders, and Bartholomae essentially confirmed it as more than just a talking point. He framed it as a real target and made it sound like a priority he expects the department to chase.
We tackle A TON with newly minted Michigan State Athletic Director @danbart3.
Starting with the BOLD statement in his letter to Spartan Nation. 👀 https://t.co/c55NXXmEyq pic.twitter.com/RXdLIfgMqS
- Fireball sommelier (@Sheehan_Sports) October 9, 2026
That kind of candor is a big reason this has landed so well. The source material points out that J Batt never really talked this way, and wasn’t nearly as open with the media.
Bartholomae’s podcast appearance suggests he wants to connect with the fan base and show that he’s serious about making this work. It also suggests he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
The larger point is simple: Michigan State cannot expect to keep up in the Big Ten without spending like a program that wants to keep up. Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, USC, Penn State, and now Indiana are all pouring major money into their rosters every year, and schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, UCLA, and Minnesota are spending at a different level.
If Michigan State wants to climb out of the conference’s financial basement, Bartholomae is saying it will have to invest with the league’s heavy hitters - and even be willing to spend more than some of the programs sitting ahead of it. That’s the road he’s pointing the Spartans toward, and he’s making no effort to soften the message.
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