Jarae Thurmond - Assistant General Manager/Director of Scouting - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Jarae Thurmond

Title:
Assistant General Manager/Director of Scouting
Email:
Alma Mater:
Grand Canyon, 2019

Jarae Thurmond was hired as the Assistant General Manager/Director of Scouting for UNT football in January of 2026.

He joined the staff after spending the 2024 and 2025 seasons as the Director of Player Personnel at Western Kentucky.

In two seasons at WKU, Thurmond helped the Hilltoppers finish with eight wins in 2024 and nine wins in 2025 with back-to-back bowl appearances as well as an appearance in the 2024 Conference USA Championship game.

In 2025, WKU defeated Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl to post their fourth nine-win season since 2019.

Prior to his time at WKU, Thurmond spent two seasons at Georgia Southern from 2022-23 where he helped the Eagles clinch a spot in back-to-back bowl games. He joined the GSU staff as a volunteer assistant in 2022 before being promoted to Director of Player and Recruiting Relations in 2023.

A native of Dacatur, Georgia, Thurmond joined the Georgia Southern support staff in 2022 after medical retirement from the U.S. Navy after 12 years of honorable service.

Thurmond served on board the USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), USS Hopper (DDG 70) and Submarine Training Facility SD, where he was awarded Instructor of the Year (2020) and Sailor of the Year (2021) for his command.

This was while serving as a coach at Sweetwater High School (San Diego, CA) for four years as the varsity running backs/wide receivers coach. While with the Red Devils, he coached three 1,000-yard rushers and was on staff of the first playoff winning team in over eight years at the school with back-to-back Metro Pacific League championships.

A native of Decatur, Georgia, Thurmond graduated from Grand Canyon University in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management.

He is the father of three children: Journee, Gavin, and Jorja.

COLLEIGATE HISTORY
2022: Georgia Southern, volunteer assistant
2023: Georgia Southern, director of player and recruiting relations
2024-25: Western Kentucky, director of player personnel
2026-: UNT, assistant general manager/director of scouting