Popular ESPN host calls new Rutgers AD Keli Zinn ‘one of the great rising stars

Rutgers’ new athletic director Keli Zinn received a stamp of approval from a well-known ESPN analyst who praised her on his show Monday.

“Richard from Connecticut” called into “The Paul Finebaum Show” to talk to the longtime SEC analyst, praising the Zinn hire. Finebaum said he was a big fan of Zinn, especially after the two previously crossed paths.

“I don’t try to act like I know something when I don’t, but I do know Keli and obviously I know President Tate, and to me, he has hired one of the great rising stars in the industry,” Finebaum said.

Zinn is the latest LSU hire, following William F. Tate IV, whom the school hired as its new president this spring and whom Finebaum also praised.

“We got to know her through some various things. In fact, her mother, I think she…