EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has appointed Jon Palumbo as interim director of intercollegiate athletics, MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., announced Friday.
Palumbo, who has served as MSU’s executive deputy athletics director and chief operating officer since 2025, steps into the interim role immediately following the news of athletic director J Batt’s impending departure.
“Jon has been an integral part of the innovation of MSU Athletics over the past year, and I have every confidence in his ability to maintain its positive trajectory as interim athletic director,” Guskiewicz said. “This will be a seamless transition for MSU Athletics, and we look forward to a successful start of the upcoming season for our programs and student-athletes.”
Guskiewicz called it an “exciting time” for Spartan athletics and said he plans to evaluate both internal and external candidates in the coming weeks and months to permanently fill the athletic director position.
In his current position, Palumbo serves as the primary sport administrator for football and provides department-wide leadership over several key areas, including:
- Finance and budget
- Event operations
- Facilities and capital projects
- Strategic initiatives
- Equipment
He also played a role in the hiring of Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald following the 2025 season.
In addition to his athletics duties, Palumbo is CEO of Spartan Ventures. He will continue in that position while serving as interim athletic director and will appoint someone to fill the athletic director’s seat on the Spartan Ventures board during his interim tenure.
“I’m honored to serve the university in this interim role, and I am grateful to President Guskiewicz for placing his trust and belief in me,” Palumbo said. “I look forward to working with our student-athletes, coaches and staff to build on the positive momentum we have established and continue to move MSU Athletics forward.”
Palumbo joined Michigan State in July 2025 after working closely with Batt at Georgia Tech, where he served as executive deputy athletics director and chief operating officer beginning in November 2022. When Batt accepted the MSU AD job in 2025, Palumbo was named vice president and interim director of athletics at Georgia Tech.
At Georgia Tech, Palumbo:
- Oversaw all internal operations, including the Yellow Jackets football program
- Helped guide the program to back-to-back bowl appearances in 2023 and 2024, the first time in a decade
- Led planning and execution of major capital projects, including the 100,000-square-foot Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center
- Directed event operations and fan engagement, including launching the “Helluva Block Party” as a new football gameday tradition
Before his time in Atlanta, Palumbo was director of athletics at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi from 2018 to 2022. Under his leadership, the Islanders:
- Won a school-record seven Southland Conference championships in 2021–22
- Captured the Southland Conference women’s all-sports championship for the first time
- Earned the Southland Conference Academic Performance Award for the first time
He hired men’s basketball coach Steve Lutz in 2021, and the program reached the NCAA tournament in 2022 (its first appearance in 15 years) and again in 2023, earning the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament win.
From 2012 to 2018, Palumbo served as deputy athletics director at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he supervised day-to-day operations and oversaw the men’s basketball program. During that span, VCU:
- Made five straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2013 to 2017
- Sold out every home men’s basketball game for six consecutive years
Earlier in his career, Palumbo held roles at the University of Maryland, American University, the College of William & Mary and LaSalle University.
Palumbo played baseball at LaSalle University, where he was a team captain and member of the Athletics Relations Council. He graduated with honors in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and earned his MBA from LaSalle in 2003.
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