INSIDER: What Dan Bartholomae learned in his first 48 hours at Michigan State – and what he intends to change
Michigan State’s new athletic director offered an early look at the priorities, relationships, and leadership philosophy that will shape his tenure
Dan Bartholomae needed only 48 hours on Michigan State’s campus to identify one subject the university has not explained well enough.
Spartan Ventures may provide Michigan State with a valuable mechanism for competing in the rapidly changing economics of college athletics, but Bartholomae believes more people need to understand what it is, how it fits alongside the athletic department’s other revenue-generating and fundraising arms, and how money moves through the larger structure.
That does not mean every detail will become public. In a wide-ranging interview with long-time mid-Michigan journalist - and friend of Spartans Illustrated - Jack Ebling, Bartholomae made clear that some financial information must remain protected when revealing it could help Michigan State’s competitors. His broader message, however, was unmistakable: The university has work to do in educating its own constituency about a structure that will play an increasingly important role in the future of MSU athletics.
“One of the things that was loud and clear to me – and I really just spent time asking questions – is that we’ve got an opportunity to grow in terms of explaining Spartan Ventures,” Bartholomae told Ebling on The Drive with Jack. “We probably haven’t done as good a job as we could have in truly explaining it.”
Bartholomae was not prepared to deliver a polished elevator pitch after only a handful of early conversations with Spartan Ventures leaders. He was willing, though, to explain why he sees potential value in the model.
“There is a competitive advantage to having a nimble resource mechanism that allows you to spread your dollars and cents out in a different way and protect some of the information,” Bartholomae said. “Some of that is important.”
He compared the need for financial discretion to protecting a football playbook. In the current era, the amount an athletic department can spend – and the way it deploys that money – may separate sustained success from the bottom of a conference. Publicly revealing every strategic detail could surrender an advantage.
Still, Bartholomae distinguished between protecting competitive information and leaving supporters confused about the structure itself. He said Michigan State can do a better job explaining the relationship among Spartan Ventures, the nonprofit Spartan Athletic Fund, and the for-profit Spartan Media Ventures, including how each entity functions and how resources flow between them.
“Those are things that we’re going to work on doing a better job of explaining, without question,” Bartholomae said. “I certainly saw a need for that.”
That is an important early acknowledgment from an athletic director who made clear vision, collaboration, and transparency the three stated values of his leadership. It also offers an early indication of how Bartholomae plans to approach one of the most consequential – and least understood – portions of Michigan State’s new athletic model.
He is beginning with questions, mapping the system, and reserving judgment until he understands it. Once he does, he intends to explain it.
A stadium review through the eyes of every fan
Bartholomae’s first review of Michigan State’s $500 million Spartan Stadium modernization will begin from a similarly revealing perspective.
The new athletic director's conversation with Ebling offered further revealing insight into the $500 million stadium project, his early partnership with Pat Fitzgerald, hours of private conversations with Tom Izzo, his approach to evaluating coaches and using search firms, and the donor strategy he believes can transform the department over time.
Our in-depth analysis of his interview with Ebling examines what Bartholomae learned, the culture he intends to establish, and what his earliest decisions reveal about the Michigan State athletic department he plans to build.
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