LSU athletics expected to hire West Virginia official for No. 2 role, source confirms

LSU is expected to hire West Virginia deputy athletic director/COO Keli Zinn as the second-highest ranking member of the athletic department under Scott Woodward, a source confirmed to The Advocate | Times-Picayune.

Zinn will replace former executive athletic director/COO Stephanie Rempe, who left last month to become the athletic director at Nevada. Rempe had spent three years at LSU.

An official announcement is expected in the coming days. ESPN first reported the news Tuesday.

A West Virginia graduate, Zinn worked in her alma mater’s athletic department since 2010. She started in compliance before moving up to the No. 2 position in the building. At one point, Zinn served as interim athletic director for three months, making her the first woman to hold the position in school history.

In her current role, Zinn helped athletic director Shane Lyons lead the athletic department by providing “strategic direction and operations management,” according to her bio. She was the athletic department’s primary liaison to university administration while also overseeing the football program’s finances, capital projects, infrastructure and contract negotiations.

Zinn has served on multiple committees during her career, including as West Virginia’s senior woman administrator on Big 12 and NCAA governance groups. She was also once the chair of the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement.

Before arriving at West Virginia, Zinn worked in compliance at Maryland and the Big East Conference. She helped review compliance audits and processed conference and NCAA waivers and violations with the Big East.

Zinn will take over for one of the most influential members of LSU’s athletic department the last three years. Rempe oversaw daily operations and worked behind the scenes on several high-profile coaching searches, from women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey to football coach Brian Kelly.

Rempe received credit for navigating the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating the school’s first NIL program, leading the department’s response to social justice movements and supervising internal changes after the mishandling of sexual assault and misconduct claims. Her responsibilities also ranged from handling organizational structure to renegotiating the school’s Nike apparel contract.

This will be the first time in over a decade that Woodward works with a new No. 2 in his athletic department. He hired Rempe at Washington, Texas A&M and LSU.