A key member of the LSU athletic department is reportedly being targeted to be the next athletic director at Rutgers.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that Rutgers is looking at LSU Executive Deputy AD / Chief Operating Officer Keli Zinn as the next AD of the Scarlet Knights. Thamel notes that Zinn is the direct report for LSU football.
Sources: Rutgers is targeting LSU Executive Deputy AD / COO Keli Zinn as the school’s new athletic director. Zinn brings strong football experience, as she’s the direct report for football at LSU. pic.twitter.com/Ijv7X555hK
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 27, 2025
Zinn arrived at LSU in July 2022. Zinn’s LSU bio describes her roll at overseeing 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. She has supervision of all 21 varsity programs, with direct oversight of football and gymnastics, revenue generation, capital projects, strategic initiatives, and more.
LSU credits Zinn with guiding the athletic program into the Director’s Cup Top 10 for the first time since 2008-09. Her bio notes her role in securing a 21% increase in value for LSU’s media rights partnership. Zinn is also credited with helping grow NILSU and helping launch the Amazon Prime series The Money Game.
Zinn was previously Deputy Athletics Director at West Virginia.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
