Rutgers reportedly targeting LSU Executive Deputy AD / COO Keli Zinn as Athletic Director
After 345 days, Rutgers‘ elusive search for a new Athletic Director appears to be near its end.
According to multiple reports from Brian Fonseca and Steve Politi of NJ Advance Media and Pete Thamel of ESPN, the Scarlet Knights are targeting Keli Zinn to become the school’s new Athletic Director. Zinn has served as the Executive Deputy AD / COO at LSU since July of 2022. There, she worked with new Rutgers President William Tate with the Tigers.
She was also a former Deputy Athletic Director (as well as Interim AD) at West Virginia, her alma mater.
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Zinn is set to take over for current interim Athletic Director Matthew Colagiovanni, as well as the previous interim Ryan Pisarri, nearly a year after former Athletic Director Pat Hobbs resigned prior to an investigation into the gymnastics program.
This news also comes days after the university moved on from the search firm TurnkeyZRG, after The Knight Report first reported that former sports executive and Arctos partner Brian Lafemina was the favorite for the job. Lafemina later turned down the opportunity.
Zinn’s background
A 2002 graduate of the Mountaineers, Zinn got her start in college athletics with in Morgantown, working as a Compliance Assistant for two years.
In 2003, Zinn began her work with the Big East conference in the same role. There, she assisted in the review of institutional compliance audits and the processing of all conference and NCAA waivers and violations. She also helped organize events and served as oversight to the conference’s student-athlete advisory committee.
From there, she went to Maryland, also working in the compliance department. Zinn worked with the Terrapins for six years, the first two as a Compliance Coordinator, before being promoted to the Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance from 2005 to 2010. She served as the sports administrator for Maryland’s women’s tennis and competitive cheer programs.
Zinn returned to her alma mater in 2010 as an Associate Athletic Director for Governance and Compliance, a role she held for two years, before being promoted to an Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director.
In December of 2014, Zinn made school history as the first woman to lead the Mountaineers’ athletic department, serving as West Virginia’s Interim Athletic Director after the departure of Oliver Luck.
Zinn was retained after the hiring of Shane Lyons as the full-time Athletic Director and earned the role of Deputy Athletic Director / COO.
In that role, Zinn “provided strategic direction and operations management to a department that includes 18 intercollegiate programs, 250 coaches and staff and a budget exceeding $93 million annually,” according to her school biography. She also served as the football program’s administrator, as well as the Senior Woman Administrator on the Big 12 and NCAA Governance groups, representing the university.
Zinn left West Virginia in July of 2022, and headed to LSU to work in the same role.
The Tigers’ athletic department has celebrated plenty of success under the leadership of Tate, Zinn, and Athletic Director Scott Woodward. They won three national championships in baseball, gymnastics and women’s basketball, and three SEC championships in gymnastics and women’s track. LSU also earned its first top-10 finish in the Learfield Directors Cup in 2023 in ninth place nationally. The Tigers finished in 13th place in 2024 and 17th in 2025.
Zinn also acted as LSU’s primary sports administrator for the football and gymnastics programs, two of the most popular in the school. The Tigers’ football team has long been one of the premier programs, while gymnastics boasted great team success as the nation’s top team, and also featured one of the top NIL earners in the country in Olivia “Livvy” Dunne.
Zinn earned the 2025 Central Region Administrator of the Year award, given to “athletics administrators who have made a significant impact on their gymnastics programs and institutions.”
On the business side, Zinn renegotiated the program’s multimedia rights partnership, helping secure a 21% value increase, and helped LSU see significant revenue increases in ticket sales, merchandising, and donor support.
In all, her biography states she oversaw “all external and internal affairs of the athletics department, working closely with University leadership, senior athletics administration, and campus and community partners to support and advance the Tigers’ growth and success.”
Now, Zinn comes to Rutgers to lead the school’s athletic department in the age of revenue sharing and constant change in the college athletics landscape.
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What does this mean for Rutgers?
For one, Zinn and Tate’s prior working experience gives the athletic department a more aligned vision in recent years. With both the athletic director and president entering the university at the same time, from the same place, the familiarity is already in place, lessening the time needed to adjust to the new role.
With the candidacy of Lafemina – as well as the main secondary candidate in Mike Palisi – falling through, Tate became more involved in the search, helping choose Zinn.
Zinn also played a huge part in LSU’s success in athletics and the business world, in terms of NIL and revenue sharing. She is an excellent fundraiser, spurred by her “dynamic approach and ability to foster collaborative relationships.” She helped build NILSU, the Tigers’ NIL department, and has consistently helped bring revenue into Baton Rouge for the department and athletes alike.
That attribute is arguably the most important to bring to New Brunswick. The Scarlet Knights’ NIL warchest ranks mostly near the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, not competing with the top programs in the conference and the country.
In the new age of revenue sharing, Zinn’s ability to fundraise, fundraise, and fundraise some more, is crucial to bring Rutgers up from back-to-back disappointing Directors Cup finishes (80th in 2025, 66th in 2024, both last in the Big Ten).
Zinn also helped with facilities with the Tigers, another area of extra attention for the Scarlet Knights. With projects all over the department – including potential renovations to Jersey Mike’s Arena, Bainton Field, and more – that experience can help catapult Rutgers into the cutting edge.
The athletic director search – a long-winded, twisting-and-turning search – appears to have met its end, landing on a well-respected candidate who excels in areas the Scarlet Knights will need her to.
