Why Bartholomae Can Finally Be MSU's Long-Term AD Answer
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The common, small-talk quip on Wednesday at the Breslin Center was along the lines of, "Hopefully we aren't at another one of these any time soon."
Michigan State has gone through cycle after cycle after cycle with the three most important seats pertaining to athletics. Presidents have come and gone; MSU hasn't had an athletic director who has stuck since Mark Hollis, and there hasn't been a football coach who's been around for more than a short while since Mark Dantonio.
The Spartans may just have a trio in those seats who could stick around for a bit. President Kevin Guskiewicz nearly left for Clemson this summer, but he's probably not leaving soon now that he's reversed course and accepted an extension with the school that carries through 2031. If Pat Fitzgerald becomes a hit, his 17-year tenure at Northwestern shows that he can be pretty darn loyal.
Dan Bartholomae seems like he could be the long-awaited, long-term answer for Michigan State at athletic director. He was formally introduced on Wednesday at the Breslin Center. He's signed a five-year deal worth an average of $1.45 million per year, according to a university spokesperson, and his first day will officially be August 31.
Bartholomae's History
One thing that sticks out about Bartholomae is that the list of schools he works for is not very exhaustive. He's only actually worked at three different schools in his career. Bartholomae began his administrative career with 15 years at Pitt. He then spent five years at Oregon State before getting his first athletic director job at Western Michigan, where he's been for about four and a half years.
It's a bit of a different tune to J Batt, who had held jobs at North Carolina, William & Mary, James Madison, Maryland, East Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia Tech before becoming MSU's athletic director last year.
What's also notable is that Bartholomae has lived in and spent time in the state of Michigan before. Batt had hardly gone north of the Mason-Dixon Line before last year, and now he's gone back down south of it to Kentucky.
"He knows the state of Michigan," Guskiewicz said when asked about how the importance of a long-term fit in his final decision for AD. "He's connected better than I even imagined... That [long-term fit] is a big part of it. The first time I met him on the sideline at our women's soccer game two years ago, I knew this is somebody who cared deeply about wherever it was that he was leading, but that he had some higher aspirations."
Aligned Aspirations
Fitzgerald and Bartholomae seem like guys who will get along, too. Michigan State will enter the 2026 football season with a new AD and a new coach, but it's not often that the athletic director arrives after the football coach.
Bartholomae's aspirations to bring a national title to MSU are probably the type of thing Fitzgerald wanted to hear from the new hire, though. There won't be any clash between the two of them over what the ultimate goal is moving forward. Bartholomae sounded a bit like Fitz at one point, to be honest.
"I want to outwork people, and I think that's what Michigan State is all about," he said. "How long until it's reality? As soon as possible. I'm not foolish. I know that it'll take time. We've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot that we can do better here, 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 build towards those national championships that we're all hoping for."
Bartholomae also knows that some improvement in fundraising and/or NIL is necessary to get there. He admitted he doesn't know exactly where the Spartans stand on that front, but his record at Western Michigan was very strong and one of the main reasons he was a clear candidate for the Michigan State job. He nearly quintupled overall donations and more than doubled the number of unique donors for the Broncos during his tenure.
"I'm still learning where we fit in the Big Ten [NIL-wise]," Bartholomae said. "And so what I would tell you is we're going to start with,'We want to win the Big Ten.' Because if you win the Big Ten, you win national championships."
"So we're going to start with, 'If we're not in the top half, we're going to be in the top half.' And then we're going to need to get to the top third. And then we're going to evaluate what the other priorities are. It is an important component. It is not the only component, but it is an important component."
Full Intro Press Conference
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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