Rutgers is targeting LSU administrator as next athletics director, per reports

The search for Rutgers’ new athletics director appears to finally be ending.

The University has narrowed its search to Keli Zinn, the executive deputy athletics director and chief operating officer for Louisiana State, according to multiple reports.

Rutgers’ newly hired president William Tate was previously at LSU in the same role, so she has clear familiarity with Zinn, who’s been in Baton Rouge since 2022.

Zinn at LSU oversees all 21 varsity programs with direct oversight over football, revenue generation and capital projects – all areas important for Rutgers.

Zinn previously was the deputy AD at West Virginia, her alma mater. She’s also worked at Maryland and as a compliance assistant with the Big East before that.

If Rutgers finalizes the hiring of Zinn, it would end a long search for the new athletics director, a role that became open when Pat Hobbs resigned last August.

Ryan Pisarri became interim AD at the time, but he recently left to become the AD at Tufts. Matt Colagiovanni is the current interim athletics director.

NJ Advance Media reported that Rutgers had targeted longtime sports administrator Brian Lafemina, a Rutgers alumnus, as its top candidate, but he pulled his name from the search.

Rutgers needs a new AD to stabilize the department at a time of ongoing change in college athletics.

Adding someone from a department from LSU would certainly go a long way toward doing that, and her familiarity with Tate would certainly help.

It’s been a long time since Rutgers has had a full-time athletics director in place.

That could be changing soon.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers targeting LSU administrator as next AD, per reports