The latest news in the ongoing search for Georgia Tech’s next athletic director is that there is no news. At least not publicly.
Tech, and those involved with the search, have remained mum since J Batt left the school at the first of this month to become the next athletic director at Michigan State. That’s not an unexpected development given that Tech president Ángel Cabrera said members involved with targeting finalists for the position must sign a nondisclosure agreement to protect the confidentiality of the candidates.
Parker Executive Search is assisting Tech in its efforts to hire its 11th full-time AD. A representative for the firm told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it does not comment on ongoing searches. Parker is also currently assisting North Carolina in its search for an executive director of The Rams Club, the College Football Playoff to help fill the role of director of football relations and Tufts University in its AD search.
In 2022, Tech used Parker in its hiring of Batt, which came about three weeks after the school fired former AD Todd Stansbury. This week starts the fourth week since Batt departed for MSU.
Jon Palumbo has been serving as interim athletic director. A former AD at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Palumbo introduced James Ramsey as Tech’s new baseball coach June 9.
Palumbo may be considered for the position full time, but his candidacy, or the candidacy of any other individual, has not been publicly confirmed at this time.
A week from Tuesday, NCAA Division I schools will begin to pay their athletes as part of the recent approval of the House v. NCAA settlement. Having an AD in place before July 1 would seem to be an unofficial deadline for Tech, but the school’s athletic leadership has expressed their preparedness for the new age of college athletics — permanent athletic director in place or not.
“This is something we started working toward January before last, 18 months ago. When the news broke two Fridays ago, we were prepared. It doesn’t change anything for us; we’re ready to roll,” Tech football coach Brent Key said Wednesday on SiriusXM. “We’re competitive, we’re gonna be competitive. Ángel Cabrera’s been absolutely amazing in support of Georgia Tech athletics in allowing us to compete at the highest level. And that’s all we ask for, is that our commitment and our internal expectations align — and they do."
Whomever Tech decides to hire as its next AD, the school will have to undoubtedly pay that person a competitive salary to employ a quality candidate. Before his departure, Batt was making a salary of $979,000 and is now making $1.8 million at MSU.
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