Texas A&M DC Jay Bateman explains why he’s leaving for same title at Kentucky
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Texas A&M defensive coordinator Jay Bateman is still in College Station while he stays in his current job of preparing the Aggies for that talented Miami offense in Saturday’s College Football Playoff first-round game.
But Bateman, who joined Mike Elko‘s staff at Texas A&M in January 2024, will soon be joining another program and an SEC rival no less. Whenever the Aggies’ Playoff run ends, that will be the end of Bateman’s time in College Station. He’ll be heading to Kentucky to join new head coach Will Stein as the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator for the 2026 season.
Stein managed to lure Bateman away from Texas A&M to become part of a rebuilding program in Lexington that’s getting used to life without longtime former head coach Mark Stoops. This is a transition time for Kentucky football, and Bateman will be a big part of that hopeful transition from losing to winning.
On Tuesday, Bateman shared with reporters what he was thinking in deciding to move from a Playoff team to a program very much in rebuilding mode.
“I think I was really intrigued with Will Stein, the new head coach and when he reached out to me, just his vision. … It’s a really nice place. I think they’ve (got a) chance to be, you know, kind of autonomy as his defensive coordinator, was really important to me,” Bateman said.
The hard work is going on right now for Bateman in trying to get Texas A&M into the Playoff quarterfinals. But soon enough for Bateman, there will be a different kind of work in trying to build Kentucky into a relevant program in the SEC.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
