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Another FBS football head coach has been disciplined, with Kent State’s Kenni Burns being placed on administrative leave, according to a report.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel was first to share the news on Thursday:
Kent State did not reveal why it chose to make the decision involving its head coach, but the 41-year-old Burns was in some in-season trouble last fall. A state of Ohio bank sued Burns for an unpaid credit card, according to CBS Sports. The debt totaled $23,852.09 plus interest, the report revealed.
“My wife and I are aware of a legal matter involving debt related to paying off a recent remodel and move,” Burns wrote in a statement to CBS Sports. “We are working swiftly to address this matter.”
The Golden Flashes joined Stanford as FBS programs dealing with head coaching trouble. The Cardinal fired Troy Taylor on Tuesday amid accusations of bullying and “inappropriate comments” directed toward female staffers.
Burns has had 2 forgettable seasons at Kent State, which is his first head coaching job. In his first season in 2023, Burns’s team went 1-11 and 0-8 in the MAC. And last season, it got even worse for Burns’s Golden Flashes, who struggled to an 0-12 season and obviously another winless season in conference play.
Burns played college football at Indiana, where he was a running back from 2003-06.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
