To say that Texas A&M is committed to Jimbo Fisher is an understatement given the size of his $75 million contract but it’s pretty clear that commitment extends beyond the salary of the head coach to include staffing up the Aggies to compete with their peers in the conference like Alabama, Georgia and others. The school has made another splashy off the field hire to that end, with several reports stating that former LSU ‘General Manager’ Austin Thomas is now in maroon and white.
AggieScoop.com’s Taylor Hamm caught a photo of Thomas in action at one of the team’s summer camps (below) last week and The Athletic’s Chris Vannini also confirmed the hire on Thursday.
First look at Austin Thomas in Aggie gear. Got into College Station late last night and has already hit the ground running pic.twitter.com/sGJUtpY8xs
— Taylor Hamm (@_TaylorHamm) June 2, 2018
The Aggies haven’t formally announced the hire but it’s probably safe to say he’ll have a similar title and responsibilities to what he was doing at LSU. While we’re used to having associate or assistant athletic directors with the titles like director of player personnel or something similar, Thomas was one of the very first to be called a football program’s general manager when he was elevated to that spot when Ed Orgeron took over in Baton Rouge.
Thomas had left the Tigers late last year, reportedly for a similar position at Tennessee (where he once worked at for Lane Kiffin). However that seemed to fall through after Jeremy Pruitt was hired and it seems like, after a few months off, the ‘GM’ finally landed in College Station with Fisher in what will probably be a pretty significant role.