EAST LANSING — Dan Bartholomae says he is living a dream as Michigan State’s new athletic director. He’s asking for others’ “dream energy” as he takes the lead of a Big Ten sleeping giant.
Michigan State introduced Dan Bartholomae as its new athletic director Wednesday, Aug. 19, at Breslin Center. His message: Michigan State will be a championship contender in his tenure.
"I want to be somewhere where part of the plan is simply to outwork the competition,” Bartholomae said. “That’s a style I believe in. ... The standards will be high, and the expectations will match them."
Bartholomae, 46, spent the past 4½ years at Western Michigan, where a national championship in ice hockey and a 10-win Mid-American Conference championship football team in 2025 made him a hot commodity on the athletic director market. Bartholomae interviewed for the job last summer when predecessor J Batt earned the position. A year later after Batt’s departure for Kentucky, Bartholomae stood at Breslin Center speaking of green and white confetti, and a whole lot of work ahead.
“We should never, never settle for anything less than the best, because the best is right here at our disposal all day,” Bartholomae said. “We have a blue-collar, roll-up-your-sleeves mentality that separates us a little bit in this state and in this conference, and I like that.”
Bartholomae begins his tenure Aug. 31.
“Dan will lead an already strong program, and I’m certain he will push us all to new areas of excellence,” Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz said.
Michigan State paid handsomely to get Bartholomae, including a $5.1 million buyout to Western Michigan that is offset by $3.95 million from Kentucky that paid the buyout of predecessor J Batt. Bartholomae called it an “honor and a privilege” to work at Western Michigan.
“I leave a piece of my heart there,” he said.
But now, he’s in East Lansing, and at the helm of a Michigan State athletic department in the middle of a renovation. New revenue arm Spartan Ventures launched in July, and football is coming off its fourth losing season. If there’s work to be done, a smiling Bartholomae is embracing it.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a destination job, and I am incredibly grateful that you have entrusted me to deliver,” Bartholomae said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he added. “There’s a lot that we can do better, but there’s a lot that’s really going pretty well, and so we’ll utilize that. We’ll leverage those assets, and we’ll go towards those national championships that we’re all looking for.”
Various Michigan State dignitaries attended Bartholomae’s introduction, including football coach Pat Fitzgerald, basketball coach Tom Izzo and megadonor Greg Williams, whose $401 million commitment last December helped seed new third-party revenue arm Spartan Ventures.
Bartholomae shared a story that in his early months at Western Michigan in 2022, he got a call from a 517 area code and picked up the phone.
“I thought, maybe I’ll pick this up,” he said.
It was Izzo, welcoming him to the state’s athletics scene and giving him advice on the road ahead.
“I answered the call then, and I will always answer it moving forward,” Bartholomae said. “I very much appreciate your counsel, and we are going to be great teammates.”
Bartholomae didn’t just speak of dreams, but also of reality. He has a plan for generating revenue, and with that helping Michigan State compete in a college sports scene that has become a bidding war in many ways.
Bartholomae also had a two-hour meeting with Spartan Ventures CEO Jon Palumbo this week. Palumbo served as the interim athletic director after Batt left for Kentucky on July 28. Guskiewicz also praised his work since then, as well as his work at Spartan Ventures.
“We are set up with Spartan Ventures to succeed,” Bartholomae said. “We are set up with community and donor support to succeed. We need to activate third parties. We need to activate the corporate space. We need to continue to energize and activate our donors. We need a smart plan to sustain this beyond just one or two years. I do believe Spartan Ventures can do that.”
Guskiewicz called the creation of Spartan Ventures a “heavy lift” over the past few months, but one that is complete for Bartholomae to pick up the baton.
“We all know that college athletics today is in an especially dynamic state, with evolving rules and economics that create new challenges for institutions to compete and to excel at the highest level,” Guskiewicz said. “The future will certainly belong to those universities that embrace innovation while remaining grounded in their mission.”
@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dan Bartholomae, new MSU AD, embraces 'opportunity of a lifetime'
Leave a Comment