New Hire @ LSU ?

[Herb]

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LSU-bound Zinn changing stripes in tumultuous time for college sports

ByMIKE CASAZZA Jul 14, 11:30 AM

The quick and cursory review of Keli Zinn's move from West Virginia's athletic department to LSU's is the one she'd rather prevent. She's earned that much. 

At first glance, the No. 2 ranking official in the Mountaineer administration is leaving her job as the chief operating office and deputy athletics director at a Power 5 program to be the ... No. 2 ranking official, chief operating officer and deputy athletic director at a Power 5 program. 

"I’m hopeful that people don’t see it as a lateral move because of both where it sits within the hierarchy and the title," she told EerSports Thursday. "If you're just reading it, you might say, 'Wait a minute, what she's doing here is what she'll be going at LSU,' when in reality it's a bigger scope and one that I think will beneficial for me."

Zinn, who has worked at WVU since 2010 and earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the school, wraps up her time with the Mountaineers on July 27. She was introduced by the Tigers Wednesday, and her new boss, athletic director Scott Woodward, said Zinn is "a rising star in collegiate athletics, and the experience, leadership, and vision she brings to our department will be vital to our continued growth and excellence." The time had finally arrived to rise and star. 

Hers is a name that's been mentioned and endorsed in many job searches for roles like hers and above hers in the past few years, especially after her boss, Shane Lyons, elevated her to the deputy position in 2016. Her name it made its way to LSU after Stephanie Rempe left to become the athletic director at Nevada. Zinn has worked with the agency that represents LSU football coach Brian Kelly, and those people told Woodward that Zinn was someone to consider. Zinn didn't know Woodward before this. 

"It's kind of crazy how things come together," she said. "Particularly when you do this for a long time, you might get an opportunity to move up and to move on because of who you know when in reality this was more about who I knew that knew him."

Woodward's research isolated Zinn's resume, and Zinn's corresponding calculations made this the job for her after holding onto the idea for so many years that "it was going to take something good" to make her move. The Tigers offer that, no matter the title, with some significant tasks that weren't available with the Mountaineers. 

She's WVU's football administrator, meaning she's overseeing the daily operations throughout the year. She'll be the administrator for all 21 sports in Baton Rouge. The Mountaineers have a second deputy athletics director, Steve Uryasz, who oversees fundraising with the Mountaineer Athletic Club as well as an executive senior associate athletics director, Matt Wells, who works with external constituents. Zinn understood the staffing structure plus and admired the experience and expertise Uryasz and Wells provide to their positions, but LSU will have her working with fundraising and external affairs as well. 

"I'll be able to have that firmly planted in my portfolio, if you will, so that years from now, however long it takes, I can essentially sit in front of a president some day in the future and say I have been able to have oversight of everything," she said. "I've worked closely with it before, but to be able to say to a president, 'Let me show you how I was heavily involved in making money and what that looks like to me. Let me show you how I've been able to negotiate sponsorships and contracts and those type of things,' I could not do that now.

"As I looked at my future here, I don't believe those circumstances were going to change -- and that's not at all problematic or an issue. I absolutely adore Shane and President Gee and everybody involved. It's just that with our structure, this gives me a chance to really run the whole, entire operation and have oversight of that, which no doubt positions me for what I'm looking for in the future professionally."

Zinn leaves with a reluctance to brag about her achievements but with pride about the progress of WVU's football facilities. Lyons let her oversee the most recent wave of renovations, despite her warning Lyons that she had no clue what to do about some of the problems that might pop up along the way. Zinn shepherded the schedule and the budget through the pandemic and all the time and financial worries that delivered.

She's also proud of the way the athletic department has generated, increased and sustained various resources for teams after joining the Big 12 and that the football program has worked for and earned momentum during the offseason for the 2022 seasons. Zinn arrived to work in the compliance office. She leaves grateful for the way the Mountaineers developed and prepared her for this opportunity.

"It’s tough to go, personally, but this is the perfect situation," said Zinn, whose husband, Nate, is an assistant athletics director for marketing and will stay with WVU a while longer.

It's a perfectly chaotic time in college sports, too, which can be either intimidating or inviting for someone in her position -- that is, the rising star in the industry but also someone making a career move amid such volatility. 

"I consider myself a pragmatic optimist, so I’m encouraged, and I tend to see things in a way where I expect stuff to happen and I work really hard to try to make that the case," she said. "In some cases, you work hard enough and you create your own luck, but you also understand the reality of college athletics right now and there are some concerns about what exists, what it looks like and so many question marks about conference realignment. Obviously, the SEC is very stable and tends to be at the forefront of everything, and there is no doubt comfort in that regard.

"But I always want the enterprise as a whole to be successful and to thrive, and I think that right now what that picture looks like in the future remains to be seen, but I’m hopeful and I think there lot of really smart and really dedicated people at the top who will hopefully come together and figure that out. My hope is I can help with that in any way that I can. It's just that now it's going to be at LSU versus here, but anything I can do in the future to help WVU I w ill do."