Rebels hire GM with LSU ties
LSU stole the Ole Miss head coach, like Lane Kiffin moved from the Rebels to the Tigers. In the process of Kiffin moving to LSU, multiple coaches moved from Ole Miss to Baton Rouge. Now, a former LSU staff member is headed to Ole Miss.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Austin Thomas, former senior associate athletic director in charge of football at LSU, Ole Miss hires to be general manager and president of football operations. Thomas left LSU after Kiffin was hired as the new head coach.
Kiffin and Thomas have worked together in the past. Thomas was in the athletic department at Tennessee in 2009 when Kiffin was the coach there. The administrator would then follow the coach to USC in 2010. He eventually branched out, joining LSU for the first time in 2014. appointed as the first general manager in college football. There, he won Personnel Director of the Year in 2015 and helped build the 2019 National Championship-winning roster at LSU.
Thomas then spent time at Texas A&M and Baylor before returning to Kiffin and spending time at Ole Miss. He returned for a third job at LSU after spending 2022 and 2023 at Ole Miss, joining the program as a senior associate athletic director.
He has been a key part of recruiting in his career and has worked in the field as a quality control coach in the past. Now he hopes to bring his success back to Ole Miss as they look to continue their growth in the post-Kiffin era. Ole Miss is gearing up for its College Football Playoff game against Tulane on Saturday.
2025-12-16 00:14:00
