The awards keep piling up for West Virginia University Deputy Director of Athletics Keli Zinn, and this one is perhaps her most coveted of all.
 
Last night, Zinn was recognized along with 39 others in this year's Forty Under 40 class of leaders in sports, representing a broad cross section of the sports business field.
 
Individuals were selected by SportsBusiness Journal and featured in the March 25 issue of its daily publication.
 
Those selected bring an "entrepreneurial spirit" to their work in media, individual leagues, professional and college teams, sports agents and corporate partners in technology, ticketing, finance, marketing and sponsorship, according to the publication.
 
Zinn and the others who were recognized last night during a gala at Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California, following the World Congress of Sports annual meeting represent a Who's Who in the industry.
 
Zinn is the first person from West Virginia University to be selected for this prestigious honor.
 
"I am honored to be recognized among such an outstanding group of professionals," she said. "This moment is largely a result of the people along my career path who afforded me the opportunities to grow and develop as an administrator in a profession of which I am so grateful to be a part."
 
At WVU, Zinn is responsible for assisting Director of Athletics Shane Lyons with the overall administration of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. 
 
The Petersburg High graduate provides strategic direction and operations management for the department, serves as athletics' primary liaison to the University's central administration, works closely with WVU's general counsel, strategic initiatives and finance and human resources and serves as the lead administrator for Mountaineer football with oversight of its daily operations.
 
Keli also served as interim athletic director between the tenures of Oliver Luck and Lyons.

In 2016, she was recognized by College AD's NEXT UP series and selected among the SportsBusiness Journal's Game Changers.
 
Joining Zinn and her husband, Nathaniel, at last night's gala were West Virginia University president E. Gordon Gee, WVU director of athletics Shane Lyons, her father, Joe Cunningham, and close friends Stephen and Sarah Rogers of Morgantown.
 
This is not just a great honor for Keli, it's also tremendous for West Virginia University. Congratulations Keli!
 
And now, on to more WVU sports notes …
 
* I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Demie Mainieri, longtime baseball coach and athletic director at Miami Dade Community College.
 
Demie, the father of LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri, was a 1963 graduate of West Virginia University with a Ph.D. in education and administration. 
 
I got to know Demie a little bit when Paul was the coach at Notre Dame and he used to travel to Morgantown to watch the Irish and Mountaineers play games at old Hawley Field.
 
I used to reserve one of the booths just for Demie so he could watch the action in the relative warmth of the press box. Living for so long in South Florida made those once-tolerable 50-degree afternoons in Morgantown seem much colder than they once were for Mainieri.
 
Although born in New Jersey, he talked proudly of his West Virginia ties and the fact that Paul was born in Morgantown. 
 
During his 30 years coaching at Miami Dade Community College, he won more than 1,000 games and his fabulous roster of players there included Major Leaguers Steve Carlton, Mickey Rivers, Kurt Bevacqua, Warren Cromartie, Mike Stanton, Dave Augustine,  Oddibe McDowell, John Cangelosi, Jaime Navarro, Lenny Harris, Mike Piazza and several others.
 
In addition to both graduating from WVU, we had another tie – my high school baseball coach, Dave Cisar, also played for Mainieri at Miami Dade.
 
Once I discovered that, it became much clearer to me from where much of Cisar's vast baseball knowledge came. Cisar taught the game the right way because he learned the game the right way – from Demie Mainieri.
 
Mainieri was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Hall of Fame in 1983 and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
 
He is also an inaugural member of the Potomac State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
 
Mainieri was 90 at the time of his passing on March 13.
 
* One name you keep hearing this spring is sophomore linebacker Josh Chandler. The Canton McKinley product is currently manning the Will linebacker position in Vic Koenning's remodeled Mountaineer defense.
 
Chandler was recruited by the former Mountaineer staff as David Long Jr.'s replacement, and like Long, he is a little undersized for an outside linebacker, standing 5-feet-10 inches and weighing 228 pounds. Josh got into 12 games last year and made 14 tackles.
 
Coach Neal Brown will conduct his second scrimmage of the spring on Saturday morning, a closed affair to the general public and the media. Brown will be available afterward for post-practice comments.
 
* I don't know where David Long Jr. is going to go in this year's NFL Draft, or which team is going to pick him, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Pittsburgh Steelers use one of their 10 draft picks on him.
 
Steelers linebacker coach Jerry Olsavsky was recently in Morgantown to watch Long Jr. work out during West Virginia's annual Pro Day, and he patiently waited to meet with him after the linebacker was done talking to the media. The two could be seen sitting along the wall at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility having a long discussion.
 
Of Pittsburgh's 10 picks, two are in the third round where many are predicting Long Jr. to land.
 
* You keep seeing different opinions on where quarterback Will Grier is going to go in this year's Draft, some having him being picked in the first round while others having him fall all the way to the third round. 
 
This recent mock draft posted by SI.com has Grier going No. 28 in the first round to the Los Angeles Chargers, https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/03/27/mock-draft-will-grier-round-1-daniel-jones-drew-lock
 
If he does actually end up there, that would put Will in a position battle with former Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith for a spot on the Chargers' roster behind starting quarterback Philip Rivers.
 
Other places you see Grier's name attached to include New England, Carolina and possibly Washington.
 
It appears as many as six Mountaineer players could be taken in this year's Draft, which would be the most since 1999 when six players were selected in the top four rounds that year from Don Nehlen's underachieving 1998 squad.
 
In addition to Grier and Long, wide receivers Gary Jennings Jr. David Sills V, offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste and tight end Trevon Wesco are expected to hear the names called.
 
Considering this year's 8-4 record that included a disappointing loss to Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl, Dana Holgorsen's final Mountaineer team probably joins that '98 Nehlen squad among West Virginia's dubious list of coulda-woulda-shoulda teams.
 
By the way, Nehlen once had eight players drafted off his 1989 Fiesta Bowl squad, but that was before the NFL pared down the Draft to seven rounds. 
 
Only three from the Fiesta Bowl team were taken in the top seven rounds of the '89 Draft, but four were picked the following year in 1990.
 
If six go in this year's draft as expected, that will make 26 draft picks for Holgorsen at WVU, including four in the first round. He's already coached the most first-rounders in school history.
 
Nehlen had three – Anthony Becht, Renaldo Turnbull and Brian Jozwiak – while Art Lewis coached two first rounders - Chuck Howley and Joe Marconi. 
 
The NFL Draft this year will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, April 25-27.
 
* The April Spring Signing Period begins next Wednesday for men's basketball and lasts the entire month of April. Bob Huggins and his staff are in Minneapolis for the Final Four this weekend before getting back at it trying to fill up the remaining spots on their roster.
 
* The pairings have been announced for the inaugural Big 12/Big East Challenge, and West Virginia will be traveling to New York City to play St. John's sometime in December. It's unknown if the game will be played at Madison Square Garden or Carnesecca Arena in Queens.
 
If it's Carnesecca Arena, it will be WVU's first visit there since Feb. 16, 2005 when guard J.D. Collins' driving layup at the buzzer gave the Mountaineers a 67-66 victory. 
 
Incidentally, that was J.D.'s only basket of the game.
 
Overall, West Virginia has a 20-17 record against the Johnnies and has beaten the Red Storm eight times in the Big Apple.
 
Also, the WVU Coliseum will be the home venue for West Virginia's Big 12/SEC Challenge game which will take place on the final Saturday of January, 2020. 
 
WVU's opponent has yet to be announced. 
 
* I'm not surprised Texas Tech's Chris Beard was named AP coach of the year, and I won't be surprised if the Red Raiders win it all on Monday night. This is probably one of the most wide open Final Fours in recent memory with no so-called Blue Bloods in it this year. 
 
I would have to say Auburn, without Chuma Okeke, is probably the weakest of the four teams in Minneapolis this weekend.
 
It's also hard to make jump shots for six straight games to win a national championship, but as WVU Senior Associate Athletic Director Matt Wells always tells me, never sleep on the team of destiny. Perhaps Auburn is this year's team of destiny.
 
We'll find out.
 
Have a great weekend everyone!