Keli Zinn, expected to be named the new athletic director at Rutgers, has more than two decades of experience in college athletics — working at both Big Ten and SEC schools.
Most importantly, she has familiarity with new Rutgers President William Tate, having worked with him at LSU for the past three years.
Zinn has all the qualifications needed for the job.
As the No. 2 person in the athletic department at LSU, she helped the school through the onset of the NIL era.
In addition, she saw the Tigers have tremendous success on the field (national titles in baseball and gymnastics) and with individual athletes (LSU QB Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy; gymnast Livvy Dunne became a marketing sensation).
She’s also a trailblazer in her own right.
She grew up in Petersburg, West Virginia, becoming the first girl to play in Grant County’s all-boys baseball league.
She went to attend and work at West Virginia University, where she became the first female to lead the West Virginia athletic department in December of 2014, when she took over on an interim basis.
Her hiring ends a nearly year-long stretch where the school did not have a permanent athletic director.
