Lane Kiffin to hire top personnel official with SEC experience, per report
By Keith Farner
Published:
Lane Kiffin has reportedly hired a staffer at Ole Miss who has SEC experience at multiple programs.
Austin Thomas, one of the nation’s top personnel officials, is expected to join Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss, sources told On3sports. Thomas was LSU’s general manager last season after previously working at Baylor and Texas A&M. Thomas has degrees from Lipscomb University and the University of Tennessee.
The Nashville native has served key roles in both Les Miles’ and Ed Orgeron’s tenures in Baton Rouge, Thomas last year returned to LSU in a senior role, after he helped Dave Aranda launch his head coaching career at Baylor.
Thomas in recent years has been on the radar of a number of NFL teams after he helped introduce the “general manager” role in college football with his blend of both front-office and football recruiting-office areas of expertise. Thomas replaced the retiring Sam Nader, who worked with LSU for more than 4 decades, recently as assistant athletics director for football.
Thomas, who earned a master’s degree from Tennessee, has has also worked at Southern Cal and Bowling Green, along with the other stops.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
