Austin Thomas, a distinguished and veteran off-the-field force in college football, is returning to his home away from home.
Sources confirm to FootballScoop that Thomas is going back to LSU in a senior athletics administration/director role, where he will work closely with a variety of Tigers sports, including football, as well as also directly with the head of LSU athletics, Scott Woodward. The Advocate first reported the news.
A former student-worker at the University of Tennessee who's climbed the ranks in college athletics and years ago became one of the sport's trailblazers as a general manager, Thomas owns experience on Rocky Top, Southern Cal, LSU, Baylor and, most recently, in a senior assistant athletics director role at Ole Miss.
Thomas was a right-hand man for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, where Thomas helped schedule non-conference games for the Rebels, worked to help negotiate assistant coaches' contracts and was critical in roster management, NIL endeavors and myriad administrative elements.
A former FootballScoop Player Personnel Director of the Year, Thomas was previously on staff at LSU and also spearheaded the move to hire Will Redmond away from Kansas.
Redmond, of course, is FootballScoop's reigning top personnel executive and is departing LSU to become general manager at Auburn.