Kent State fires football coach Kenni Burns following investigation
KENT, Ohio — Kent State fired coach Kenni Burns on Friday following an investigation related to his two-year tenure.
Athletic director Randale Richmond said in a statement that offensive coordinator Mark Carney would serve as the interim coach for the upcoming season with a national search taking place at the end of the year.
'At this time, our focus will be to support our student-athletes and provide them with the best opportunity to have a positive and competitive experience,' Richmond added.
Kent State did not provide details on why Burns was fired.
Burns, who had a 1-23 record, was put on administrative leave with pay on March 27, a couple of days before the Golden Flashes began spring practices. Kent State was 0-12 last season, the fifth time in school history they had gone winless.
Before arriving at Kent State, Burns was the running backs coach at Minnesota.
Kent State opens its season on Aug. 30 against Merrimack, a Football Championship Subdivision foe.
The Golden Flashes schedule gets more difficult after that, including road games against Texas Tech (Sept. 6), Florida State (Sept. 20) and Oklahoma (Oct. 4).
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'That's pretty much exactly what happened,' he said. 'It seems like when I got put to the wing, it freed me up a little bit offensively. If that meant I got to play alongside Carts on the top line, I was going to be all for it, no doubt.' Said Carter: 'Sharpie was really good with me. He was a huge help for me just kind of adjusting to the pro game and everything that comes with it. All those guys were awesome. … It can be tough coming in at the end of the year, but no one cared. They just wanted to win. If I could play to my abilities and help them win, they were like, all right, let's go.' Carter, who arrived before Richards and managed to get into three regular-season games, immediately showed why he was such an exciting prospect. He led the Calder Cup playoffs in goals (12) and points (23), while Sharp was second in playoff scoring with 21 points. 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Suddenly, with solid goaltending and a much more high-powered attack adding to their two-way depth up and down the lineup, the Phantoms reached a new level. They dispatched the Norfolk Admirals in the first round in six games, the Penguins in the second round in five games, and the Bruins in the conference finals in six games to reach the Calder Cup finals and a meeting with the Chicago Wolves. And because of the circus taking over their home arena — the since-demolished Spectrum — the Phantoms moved into the NHL arena across the parking lot, then known as Wachovia Center. Flyers general manager Bob Clarke also allowed the Phantoms to use the Flyers' dressing room, giving them access to the more capacious and advanced facilities. 'We were getting treated like NHL players,' Slaney said. 'You've got the locker room, the weight room, the cold tubs — you're getting prepared for a game every night. That kind of stuff behind the scenes was great. It helped the trainers, and helped the players to be ready to perform.' The city took notice. The Phantoms had always drawn well for an AHL team since they were founded in 1996 — they led the league in attendance from 1996-97 to 2001-02, and were seventh that season, averaging 7,967 fans per game. But after they captured the first two games of the finals in Chicago, they returned to Philadelphia for games 3 and 4 to larger-than-normal crowds that were starved for a winning team. Advertisement 'One thing I noticed, it was louder every game compared to the Spectrum,' Slaney said. 'It was the only hockey in town in Philly at the time, so people were actually showing up.' More than 12,000 fans attended their 2-1 win in Game 3, in which goals by Richards and Sharp were the difference. Then, in Game 4 on June 10, 2005, the Phantoms drew an AHL-record sellout crowd of 20,103, all draped in purple T-shirts handed out at the door, to see the team complete the sweep with a 5-2 victory to raise the Calder Cup. And it wasn't Sharp, Carter, Richards or any other future NHL regulars who scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal. It was the scrappy Stafford, who managed to stay in the lineup for all 80 regular-season games and 21 playoff games, who hopped over the bench on a rush and potted the rebound of a shot from Sharp to give the Phantoms a commanding 3-0 second-period lead. It was just his second goal of the postseason, but it was the biggest of his career. 'Hard to believe, actually,' Stafford said, 'that it resulted in the way that it did.' (Editor's note: The Athletic's Kevin Kurz worked as assistant public relations director for the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005. He joined The Athletic in 2017.) (Top photo of Mike Richards (right): Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
