Stephen F. Austin has made a promotion and a hire on its burgeoning front-office staff, sources told FootballScoop on Monday.
Derek Whoolery has been promoted to general manager, sources say. An SFA graduate and an original member of Colby Carthel's staff, Whoolery began as a volunteer video coordinator and has since earned promotions to director of college scouting; recruiting coordinator/NFL liaison; assistant DFO; chief of staff; and now to GM. He was Carthel's chief of staff over the past two seasons.
Whoolery began working in football by creating his own scouting service, NationalMockDrafts, which led to a job with the Capital Sports Advisors agency before joining the SFA staff full-time.
Additionally, SFA has hired Hallie Huysmans as director of football operations.
A Texas Tech graduate, Huysmans joined SFA as an operations and recruiting intern in 2022, and then was promoted to director of on-campus recruiting and assistant DFO upon completion of the internship.
The Lumberjacks are set to return to the Southland Conference this fall after three seasons in the WAC and United Athletic Conference. Their season begins Aug. 29 against North American University.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.