News: LSU Not Retaining General Manager Austin Thomas on 2022 Staff

Potential for Thomas to move to athletic department role for Tigers

For many weeks, it was believed that whoever Scott Woodward would bring in to lead the football program, that general manager Austin Thomas would be a part of the future. 

On Wednesday, Thomas took to social media to announce he would not be retained by the Tigers and Brian Kelly on the new coaching staff. Brought in to help with the daily operations of the football team and help spark recruiting, Thomas' second stint with the LSU program lasted through the 2021 season.

Thank you #LSU! Forever grateful to have had this opportunity to learn, serve and grow with incredible people.🐯 #GodsPlan 🙏 pic.twitter.com/gxb9rVRotr

— Austin Thomas (@Austin_Thomas55) January 5, 2022

"I feel blessed beyond measure to have had the opportunity to serve this institution, the state of Louisiana and its wonderful people on multiple occasions over the last decade," Thomas wrote. 

This was a bit of a surprise move as Thomas rejoined the program to universal elation after departing 2017 to take a position with Texas A&M and later as a senior associate athletic director for football at Baylor for Dave Aranda's staff in 2020. 

According to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, there is a potential path for Thomas to move to the administrative side within the athletic department. This wouldn't be a huge surprise as Thomas has a very close working relationship with Woodward, who hired him at Texas A&M and at LSU.

Lots of change at #LSU. Two staff members who many expected to remain on staff, DBs coach Corey Raymond and now Thomas, are no longer there.

There is a potential path for Thomas to move to the administrative side within the athletic department. https://t.co/ENhm3bW8rs

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 5, 2022

With Kelly bringing in highly respected recruiter Frank Wilson as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, there's likely a reason behind not having both he and Thomas on staff. 

Kelly still has one on field position coaching decision to make after the most recent announcements of Mike Denbrock as offensive coordinator and Joe Sloan as quarterbacks coach.