LSU Football has made a third notable off-field hire in the past week with the addition of Ohio State’s Sam Petitto.
Petitto, an Amite (La.) native who spent nearly a decade working under Alabama head coach Nick Saban, will be LSU Football’s Director of Scouting and Personnel Strategy, sources tell The Bengal Tiger staff.
Petitto was hired by Ohio State in February 2024 as the program’s Director of Player Personnel.
Now, he’s headed home to Louisiana as the newest off-field hire by LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football Administration Austin Thomas in what’s been described as a push towards a “modernization” of the LSU Football program in the new era of college athletics as schools prioritize front office rolls with the emergence of NIL and the Transfer Portal.
On Thursday, LSU finalized a deal with a former longtime staffer and alum Jeff Martin to become the program’s new Executive Director of Player Personnel. The hire came after Kevin Bolden left Ole Miss to join the LSU Football staff as the program’s Assistant General Manager.
The hire of Petitto is a notable one for LSU given his time spent as Alabama’s Director of Personnel Operations under Saban for eight seasons, helping the Crimson Tide routinely land top recruiting classes.
Prior to his time in Tuscaloosa, Petitto was the Director of Player Personnel at Georgia for two seasons.
Petitto began his career in football as a high school coach in Louisiana, then went on to work at Grambling State and Southeastern Louisiana.
The Amite native played a part in the Tide landing former Louisiana 5-star recruit Devonta Smith out of Petitto’s hometown, and his relationship with current Baton Rouge 5-star Blaine Bradford is notable given Bradford is committed to the Buckeyes as part of the program’s 2026 recruiting class. Bradford is one of three 5-star prospects in Louisiana this cycle, joining a pair of 5-star LSU commitments in Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson.