THIBODAUX, La – After 25 years of dedicated service to Nicholls State University and the Nicholls Athletics Department, Associate A.D. Easton LeBouef will retire at the end of the calendar year.

“This was a very tough decision to make, but the last two decades have been an amazing experience, and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to serve Nicholls and the Thibodeaux area,” LeBoeuf said.

LeBouef has served the last 20 years as an associate athletic director with the Colonels, and was responsible for budgetary control of the athletic department. Twelve years ago, he also took on additional duties as interim athletic director for six months after the resignation of Mike Knight as director of the department.

"Easton has been a mainstay in our athletics department for over two decades.  We will all miss his patience and devotion to Nicholls State Athletics,” Colonels Athletic Director Rob Bernardi said. “We wish Easton and his family well in his retirement."

During his tenure as A.D., LeBouef was a driving force in Nicholls' involvement in the Tad Gormley Gridiron Classic. Nicholls became the first Louisiana university to play a game outdoors in the city of New Orleans since the construction of the Louisiana Superdome in 1975, when the Colonels played host to Mississippi Valley State in City Park on Sept. 12, 1998. On Sept. 18, 1999, the Colonels returned to City Park to face Western Illinois for its second trip to New Orleans in as many years.

After graduating from Nicholls in 1973, LeBouef began his tenure at Nicholls in 1986 as the executive director of the Colonel Brigade, now known as the CAA. After a year in that role, LeBouef took over the position of athletic business manager.

LeBouef also served as president of the Louisiana Athletic Business Managers Association, and was band director at Thibodaux's E.D. White High School for 15 years.

A search to find LeBouef's replacement will begin in the coming weeks.