Kent State on Friday reached the conclusion of its multi-week investigation into head coach Kenni Burns by concluding his tenure. Offensive coordinator Mark Carney will serve as interim head coach for the 2025 season.
"Kent State University has terminated the employment of head football coach Kenni Burns," the program said in a statement. "Offensive coordinator Mark Carney will serve as interim head football coach with a national search taking place at the conclusion of the 2025 season."
FootballScoop reported Wednesday for premium members that this was the anticipated end of the saga:
Multiple sources told FootballScoop that while the Kent State apparent opening has drawn outside interest (one name FootballScoop has heard who allegedly expressed at least some interest to discuss the job is former Kent State and NFL star Josh Cribbs) the belief is the following:
From all indications: Offensive coordinator Mark Carney is likely to lead the team through its 2025 season on an interim basis, and, presumably, Carney having the opportunity to earn the job on a full-time basis if he follows through as the interim and handles a very challenging situation with success.
FootballScoop reported last month that Kent State had been investigating Burns for months due to multiple off-field concerns.
The night the news broke, we shared (for our Premium Members), "Sources tell FootballScoop it seems highly unlikely that Burns will coach another game at Kent State".
Burns landed the job in December 2022 after seven seasons working for PJ Fleck at Western Michigan and Minnesota. He went 1-23 in two seasons atop the program; the one win came in 2023 over Central Connecticut, an FCS team that went 3-8 that season.
Kent State's football history is one of near-constant struggle with flashes (pun intended) of success. The program's all-time winning percentage is below .400 and it owns one conference championship, claimed in 1972, in its century-long history, but the Flashes did play for a MAC title in 2012 and reached bowl games in 2019 and '21.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.