The college football season is set to begin in a few months, but one head coach isn’t spending the early part of the spring with his team.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Kent State has placed head coach Kenni Burns on administrative leave. Burns has been the head coach since 2023, but the team has struggled heavily in his two seasons.
Burns won once in his first season and went winless in year two, and he now has a 1-23 career record with the Golden Flashes. He’s 0-16 in the MAC in two years of conference play, and it seems that the team is at least open to a change on the sidelines.
Nakos says that the Flashes are set to begin their spring program this week. A team meeting is set for Thursday night, and the team has yet to name or announce an interim head coach.
The 2024 campaign marked only the fifth time in program history that Kent State went winless in a season. Burns has also faced legal trouble during his time at Kent State, and had to go to court in November over $24,000 in credit card debt.
“My wife and I are aware of a legal matter involving debt related to paying off a recent remodel and move,” Burns told CBS Sports. “We are working swiftly to address this matter.”
Hometown Bank, based in Kent, Ohio, filed a complaint in September. The bank alleged that Burns applied for a credit card and was approved for it, but failed to make minimum monthly payments on the card.
The bank also said that Burns exceeded the monthly limit of $20,000 on the card despite his starting base salary of $475,000.
“The documents attached to the complaint and the allegations in the complaint kind of speak for themselves,” said an attorney representing the bank. The attorney noted that Burns had been notified by mail, and that a credit card statement attached to the suit noted that the account was past due by at least 60 days.
We’ll see what happens with Kent State football, but it seems that Burns’ days as head coach are numbered after his personal scandal and the team’s lack of success.
