Zinn Leaving a Legacy of Success at WVU
July 27, 2022 09:00 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When you spend 12 years of your life at one place you tend to put down some roots, and that was definitely the case for Keli Zinn.
So, when an opportunity to leave comes up, it has to be pretty special, and that's also definitely the case for Zinn, who will be stepping down from her duties as West Virginia University's chief operating officer to take a similar role at LSU.
And while the two jobs may appear similar on paper, Zinn says that's actually not true with her new responsibilities at LSU.
"The fact that the COO job there is responsible for the bulk of the internal stuff and also works closely with the external side of things with fundraising and sponsorships was certainly appealing," she said late last week. "At LSU, everything funnels through this position and so it was an opportunity for me to experience a bigger scope, particularly in the external area."
Zinn's career path has been a series of upward moves since earning her bachelor's and master's degrees from WVU. Her introduction to collegiate athletics began in compliance, first working for the Big East Conference followed by a six-year tenure at Maryland.
She had one opportunity to return to WVU, but that didn't work out. However, a second opportunity did in 2010 when new athletics director Oliver Luck persuaded her to come back to West Virginia to oversee the compliance department.
It was evident Keli's great instincts, skills and relentless work ethic were going to be valuable in other areas as well, so Luck continued to put additional responsibilities on her plate.
"Oliver came from a corporate background, and he didn't have the internal knowledge, which was probably more of my strengths at the time," Zinn recalled. "He needed people assembled around him who were going to roll up their sleeves and work through things, so it pretty quickly started going outside the compliance realm for me."
Zinn, then known as Keli Cunningham, admits she was planning on giving Luck a four-to-five-year commitment and then look for the next opportunity to further her professional career.
"I spent six years at Maryland and a couple of years at the Big East Conference office, and then I thought I fully expected to spend four or five years here because I've always felt like that's the life of a student-athlete; you should at least try and make a commitment for that because I think that matters," she explained. "You see some of the value of that a little bit more closely, and you watch them grow and develop, and it's a good reminder of what we're here for."
Not only was she growing professionally at WVU by adding more responsibilities, but she was also putting down some serious roots. Keli's mother, Joyce, still lives in her native Petersburg and is a big West Virginia University fan. Her father, Joe, is also a huge Mountaineer supporter living in Inwood and her husband, Nathaniel Zinn, is a Clarksburg native who played for Rich Rodriguez and became WVU's sports marketing director.
Nate's late father, Harris, was a lifelong WVU fan and his mother, Linda, still closely follows WVU athletics as well.
Their WVU jobs were literally family affairs, so moving on was bittersweet, to say the least.
"That piece of it is tough, but they've been great about it," she said. "I think being here, particularly as long as we have, you definitely settle into a place where this is our life and it's hard to imagine it changing. You've got two families that just have a ton of pride and passion for West Virginia University and West Virginia University athletics. It's who we are. The good thing is we know that's not coming to an end for them. I fully expect to keep our eight seats at Mountaineer Field and keep things going from a basketball support level as well."
During her 12-year tenure at WVU, which also included an interim stint as the school's first female director of athletics when West Virginia was transitioning from Luck to current AD Shane Lyons, she has accomplished a lot, most notably the recently completed $55 million Milan Puskar Center renovation project.
Her fingerprints are all over that magnificent facility as the program's senior administrator.
Zinn has been involved in numerous national, conference and University committees over the years, including the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement (Chair), NCAA Division I Legislative Committee, National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC) Education Committee, the NAAC Reasonable Standards Committee, the NAAC Professional Development Committee, Big 12 Bylaw Committee, the WVU Office of the President's Social Justice Committee and the WVU College of Physical Activity and Social Sciences Advisory Committee.
Within the community, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau.
In 2020, Keli was inducted into the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame. The Sports Business Journal named her as a recipient of the prestigious Forty Under 40 Awards in 2019, and she was recognized as WVU's Distinguished Alumnae of the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in 2018. She was also selected among the SportsBusiness Journal's Game Changers in 2016.
In reality, there were not many boxes left for her to check at WVU.
"I think it's always tough to lose good people, and Keli was obviously a relentless worker who cares deeply about West Virginia University and is very passionate about West Virginia," Lyons said. "This is home for her. To take another job, I know it had to be the right job for her, and this is her pathway she thinks to one day sitting in the AD chair.
"I agree and support her move and what she wants to do in her career," he added. "I do think being at different institutions and understanding how they operate is important. For her to be able to go out and experience another institution, being the second in charge at a school like LSU in the SEC, will give her some great experiences and prepare her for the next step in her professional career."
Lyons is thankful that Keli was in place to help him navigate his first days on the job back in 2015, and later, her bureaucratic skills enabled him to serve on the many prestigious committees that have given West Virginia University a national voice and presence on the numerous important issues involving collegiate athletics today.
"I know the work was going to get done here on a day-to-day basis and Keli was a very integral part in that happening," he admitted. "Keli knew what to report to me and what she could handle on her own. For close to 7½ years, we built that trust and understanding of how we operated and that's what I will sorely miss."
Lyons said he plans on having the reorganization of his senior leadership team completed by the first of August, starting with yesterday's announcement of Natasha Oakes as the department's new senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator (SWA).
He indicated some current members of his senior staff will take on additional responsibilities and there will be others on the athletics staff who will be promoted to the senior staff level.
"I have some staff members that are wanting to grow, and I have faith and trust in them to give them more responsibility," he said.
Zinn has also helped in that transition, which concludes at the end of the work day on Thursday.
"I go back and forth to those moments when you are just so fired up and excited about this new opportunity and then you start thinking about the people, the friendships, the family and all of that other stuff and you can't help but have those moments when you are like, 'Oh, wow,'" she said.
At LSU, Zinn is replacing Stephanie Rempe, who recently took the director of athletics job at Nevada. She will be joining an LSU department that is full of displaced Mountaineers.
Former MAC director Matt Borman is president & chief executive officer of the Tiger Foundation and former WVU soccer player and MAC employee Jamie Hall is his vice president of donor experience and operations. Additionally, Tyler Schiefelbein is LSU's creative services coordinator who designed the welcome graphic for social media when Zinn was hired. He once had a similar role at WVU.
"As you start to try and plot out your future and you do have aspirations of someday being an athletics director, there is no doubt being able to go to a future president and say that I've been responsible for everything will be very important," she said.
Zinn said she will forever be grateful to WVU President Gordon Gee and Lyons for their support and trust.
"It's one thing to be given opportunities, but when they do it in a way that allows you the ability to get it done and make it happen, the value of that is even far greater than the opportunity that exists," she explained. "There is something extra special when those you look up to and respect … that was something that not only helped me in those task-related assignments but will obviously serve me well going forward."
The department is planning a going away reception for the Zinns later today.
So, when an opportunity to leave comes up, it has to be pretty special, and that's also definitely the case for Zinn, who will be stepping down from her duties as West Virginia University's chief operating officer to take a similar role at LSU.
And while the two jobs may appear similar on paper, Zinn says that's actually not true with her new responsibilities at LSU.
"The fact that the COO job there is responsible for the bulk of the internal stuff and also works closely with the external side of things with fundraising and sponsorships was certainly appealing," she said late last week. "At LSU, everything funnels through this position and so it was an opportunity for me to experience a bigger scope, particularly in the external area."
Zinn's career path has been a series of upward moves since earning her bachelor's and master's degrees from WVU. Her introduction to collegiate athletics began in compliance, first working for the Big East Conference followed by a six-year tenure at Maryland.
She had one opportunity to return to WVU, but that didn't work out. However, a second opportunity did in 2010 when new athletics director Oliver Luck persuaded her to come back to West Virginia to oversee the compliance department.
It was evident Keli's great instincts, skills and relentless work ethic were going to be valuable in other areas as well, so Luck continued to put additional responsibilities on her plate.
"Oliver came from a corporate background, and he didn't have the internal knowledge, which was probably more of my strengths at the time," Zinn recalled. "He needed people assembled around him who were going to roll up their sleeves and work through things, so it pretty quickly started going outside the compliance realm for me."
Zinn, then known as Keli Cunningham, admits she was planning on giving Luck a four-to-five-year commitment and then look for the next opportunity to further her professional career.
"I spent six years at Maryland and a couple of years at the Big East Conference office, and then I thought I fully expected to spend four or five years here because I've always felt like that's the life of a student-athlete; you should at least try and make a commitment for that because I think that matters," she explained. "You see some of the value of that a little bit more closely, and you watch them grow and develop, and it's a good reminder of what we're here for."
Not only was she growing professionally at WVU by adding more responsibilities, but she was also putting down some serious roots. Keli's mother, Joyce, still lives in her native Petersburg and is a big West Virginia University fan. Her father, Joe, is also a huge Mountaineer supporter living in Inwood and her husband, Nathaniel Zinn, is a Clarksburg native who played for Rich Rodriguez and became WVU's sports marketing director.
Nate's late father, Harris, was a lifelong WVU fan and his mother, Linda, still closely follows WVU athletics as well.
Their WVU jobs were literally family affairs, so moving on was bittersweet, to say the least.
"That piece of it is tough, but they've been great about it," she said. "I think being here, particularly as long as we have, you definitely settle into a place where this is our life and it's hard to imagine it changing. You've got two families that just have a ton of pride and passion for West Virginia University and West Virginia University athletics. It's who we are. The good thing is we know that's not coming to an end for them. I fully expect to keep our eight seats at Mountaineer Field and keep things going from a basketball support level as well."
During her 12-year tenure at WVU, which also included an interim stint as the school's first female director of athletics when West Virginia was transitioning from Luck to current AD Shane Lyons, she has accomplished a lot, most notably the recently completed $55 million Milan Puskar Center renovation project.
Her fingerprints are all over that magnificent facility as the program's senior administrator.
Zinn has been involved in numerous national, conference and University committees over the years, including the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement (Chair), NCAA Division I Legislative Committee, National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC) Education Committee, the NAAC Reasonable Standards Committee, the NAAC Professional Development Committee, Big 12 Bylaw Committee, the WVU Office of the President's Social Justice Committee and the WVU College of Physical Activity and Social Sciences Advisory Committee.
Within the community, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau.
In 2020, Keli was inducted into the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame. The Sports Business Journal named her as a recipient of the prestigious Forty Under 40 Awards in 2019, and she was recognized as WVU's Distinguished Alumnae of the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in 2018. She was also selected among the SportsBusiness Journal's Game Changers in 2016.
In reality, there were not many boxes left for her to check at WVU.
"I think it's always tough to lose good people, and Keli was obviously a relentless worker who cares deeply about West Virginia University and is very passionate about West Virginia," Lyons said. "This is home for her. To take another job, I know it had to be the right job for her, and this is her pathway she thinks to one day sitting in the AD chair.
"I agree and support her move and what she wants to do in her career," he added. "I do think being at different institutions and understanding how they operate is important. For her to be able to go out and experience another institution, being the second in charge at a school like LSU in the SEC, will give her some great experiences and prepare her for the next step in her professional career."
Lyons is thankful that Keli was in place to help him navigate his first days on the job back in 2015, and later, her bureaucratic skills enabled him to serve on the many prestigious committees that have given West Virginia University a national voice and presence on the numerous important issues involving collegiate athletics today.
"I know the work was going to get done here on a day-to-day basis and Keli was a very integral part in that happening," he admitted. "Keli knew what to report to me and what she could handle on her own. For close to 7½ years, we built that trust and understanding of how we operated and that's what I will sorely miss."
Lyons said he plans on having the reorganization of his senior leadership team completed by the first of August, starting with yesterday's announcement of Natasha Oakes as the department's new senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator (SWA).
He indicated some current members of his senior staff will take on additional responsibilities and there will be others on the athletics staff who will be promoted to the senior staff level.
"I have some staff members that are wanting to grow, and I have faith and trust in them to give them more responsibility," he said.
Zinn has also helped in that transition, which concludes at the end of the work day on Thursday.
"I go back and forth to those moments when you are just so fired up and excited about this new opportunity and then you start thinking about the people, the friendships, the family and all of that other stuff and you can't help but have those moments when you are like, 'Oh, wow,'" she said.
At LSU, Zinn is replacing Stephanie Rempe, who recently took the director of athletics job at Nevada. She will be joining an LSU department that is full of displaced Mountaineers.
Former MAC director Matt Borman is president & chief executive officer of the Tiger Foundation and former WVU soccer player and MAC employee Jamie Hall is his vice president of donor experience and operations. Additionally, Tyler Schiefelbein is LSU's creative services coordinator who designed the welcome graphic for social media when Zinn was hired. He once had a similar role at WVU.
"As you start to try and plot out your future and you do have aspirations of someday being an athletics director, there is no doubt being able to go to a future president and say that I've been responsible for everything will be very important," she said.
Zinn said she will forever be grateful to WVU President Gordon Gee and Lyons for their support and trust.
"It's one thing to be given opportunities, but when they do it in a way that allows you the ability to get it done and make it happen, the value of that is even far greater than the opportunity that exists," she explained. "There is something extra special when those you look up to and respect … that was something that not only helped me in those task-related assignments but will obviously serve me well going forward."
The department is planning a going away reception for the Zinns later today.
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