Kent State fires Kenni Burns after investigation
What's next for the Golden Flashes?
Kent State has decided to fire head coach Kenni Burns after an secretive investigation into his tenure with the Golden Flashes, the school announced Friday. Offensive coordinator Mark Carney will led the program as interim head coach and the search for a new coach will begin at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Burns caps off his Kent State tenure with a 1-23 record, including an 0-12 mark last season.
Kent State’s job opening marks the second MAC school to have an opening near or during the start of spring practices, joining Bowling Green who had head coach Scot Loeffler poached by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Falcons ultimately landed on Tennessee State head coach and former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George.
What led to the Burns firing?
Kent State had previously placed Burns on administrative leave a month ago, but no details were officially given regarding the reasoning why.
Internet speculation was rampant about potential gambling debts racked up by Burns, but there was no evidence to support that.
However, Burns was recently sued by an Ohio bank for over $23,000 of unpaid credit card debt. The bank has multiple locations in the Kent, Ohio area near Kent State’s main campus and has past affiliations with the Golden Flashes athletic department, including a game as presenting sponsor for the baseball team in 2019.
That’s not to mention the woeful on-field product led by Burns. Kent State has not earned an FBS win across his entire tenure. In fact, the Golden Flashes haven’t been in the win column since September 16, 2023 when they topped FCS Central Connecticut State 38-10 at home. Since then, the Golden Flashes have floundered, losing 21 consecutive games including a 23-17 loss to FCS Saint Francis at home last season.
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What’s happening immediately?
As said in the press release, offensive coordinator Mark Carney will take over for Burns for this season on an interim basis. Carney has been in the building the entirety of Burns’s tenure and was elevated to offensive coordinator ahead of the 2024 season.
With Carney at the helm, the Golden Flashes moved from Burns’s run-heavy scheme into more of a passing team. With third-stringer Tommy Ulatowski under center for most of the season, Kent State ranked 21st in the nation in passing yards per completion at 13.5. If we just factor in Ulatowski’s play, he ranks second in the nation at 16.7 yards per completion.
As you’d expect, the wide receivers feasted in the pass-heavy offense from Carney, with Chrishon McCray, who has since transferred to Michigan State, finishing with nine touchdowns and 17.63 yards per catch. McCray and Luke Floriea both earned All-MAC nods as second- and third-team honorees respectively.
In 2025, I’d reckon the Golden Flashes lean more on that pass-happy approach. We’ll see how it plays out for them.
What comes next?
Carney will get a year’s worth of audition time to see if he’s the right man to lead the Kent State program, but that’s unlikely. Interim coaches rarely see that interim tag removed, especially in a job like Kent State.
So, I’d assume the Golden Flashes will present the first job on the 2025-26 carousel market. There’s not a lot of names being tossed around right now, which is normal with how late in the cycle this job is coming open.
Obviously, Carney is the first candidate. Another name tossed out by Football Scoop’s Zach Barnett is Kent State legend Josh Cribbs. Notably, Cribbs has no prior coaching experience, but could be the Golden Flashes’ alumni CEO coach and his name carries weight in northern Ohio for his epic Cleveland Browns tenure.
The biggest hurdle here is that it is Kent State’s job open - one of the hardest in the nation. The Kent State athletic department runs on a shoe-string budget with Burns one of the lowest paid coaches in the nation. The MAC, while a great conference, has a double-edged sword without any meaningful postseason teams since P.J. Fleck was rowing the boat in Western Michigan.
Whoever takes this job is starting from scratch at a program without an FBS win since 2022. Most of the main contributors, such as McCray, have left in the portal and now the portal sits wide open again. This is going to be a total rebuild job, and some coaches might not be interested in that.
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