Brian Kelly continues to make successful hires to revamp his defensive staff, and one notable addition is Austin Thomas. Despite not taking on a coaching role, Thomas, who has previously worked at LSU twice, is set to return as the football program’s senior associate athletic director. The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander revealed this development, highlighting Thomas’s previous stint at LSU from 2013-2017. During his time there, he became one of the first college football program general managers and played a crucial role in building the roster that secured the 2019 national championship. Following his tenure in Baton Rouge, Thomas worked at Texas A&M as the associate athletic director for football personnel in 2018 and 2019, and he then joined Baylor in 2020 as the senior associate athletic director.
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NFL Playoffs Championship Games
In 2021, Thomas made a second return to LSU, where he took on responsibilities related to roster management and daily operations. However, when Brian Kelly assumed the role, Thomas wasn’t retained, leading him to spend the last two years as the chief of staff for the football program in Oxford.
Ole Miss has excelled in both the transfer portal and NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) aspects in recent years, with Thomas playing a crucial role in these successes. Now, at LSU, he is set to carry out comparable tasks and will be closely collaborating with Scott Woodward.
