Lyons and Zinn Earn Recognition

In the most challenging year of their professional careers, Shane Lyons and Keli Zinn also had rewarding experiences.

Lyons was named one of four Athletics Directors of the Year for the Football Bowl Subdivision by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), while Zinn was recognized by Silver Waves Media as on of its top assistant athletics directors in the country.

Also joining Lyons as this year’s Football Bowl Subdivision recipients were Coastal Carolina’s Matt Hogue, BYU’s Tom Holmoe and Oregon’s Rob Mullens. According to the announcement, the award “highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to studentathletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.”

Lyons has certainly contributed a lot of positives in year filled with negatives.

In the spring of 2020, a once-ina-lifetime pandemic shut down the country, canceled March Madness and threatened the college football season. Athletics directors from Washington to Miami were staring into the abyss.

Lyons, as chair of the NCAA Division I Football Committee, was presented with a crisis that required some momentous decision making. Could college football be played safely in the fall during a worldwide pandemic? If not, what does that mean for the future of collegiate sports?

Lyons not only had to steer his alma mater through this crisis, but also an entire industry because of his involvement on the Division I Football Committee. In the summer of 2020, when some columnists and pundits were recommending college football be canceled, Lyons and West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee urged everyone to be patient and not overreact to each piece of conflicting medical data being reported.

Lyons also had to make some difficult decisions within his department to help it survive the pandemic.

He said he relied on the talents of his senior leadership team and also the University administration to put forth a solid plan moving forward.

Zinn was one of those on that senior leadership team, and here’s what Silver Waves Media wrote of her in recognizing her for the award: Zinn, a WVU graduate, has helped to lead the Mountaineers athletic program to excel in football, basketball, golf, baseball, and many other notable sports. She is the athletic department’s primary liaison for the University’s central administration and works closely with WVU’s general counsel, strategic initiatives, finance and human resources. In 2014, Zinn was appointed to interim Director of Athletics and became the first female to lead the University’s Athletic Department. In 2020, Zinn was inducted into the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences’ Hall of Fame. Other achievements include The Sports Business Journal naming Zinn as a recipient of the prestigious Forty Under 40 Awards in 2019, being honored as WVU’s Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in 2018, and being selected among the Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers in 2016.

Silver Waves Media came up with its list after consulting coaches, presidents, search firms and influencers. A total of 84 administrators were recognized.