An investigation determined that fired Kent State coach Kenni Burns took over $100,000 in loans from a booster who was also a school vendor.
Kent State fired Burns on April 11 after he was placed on administrative leave in late March. The school never gave a public reason for why Burns had been placed on leave or fired.
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According to the Akron Beacon Journal, an independent investigation by an outside law firm found that Burns had received six figures in loans from Michael Awad starting in the middle of 2023 after Burns said that his house had flooded and that he was having financial issues because he had not yet sold his house in Minnesota.
“It was then that Burns ‘obtained a series of loans from Mr. Awad and — thanks in part to a previous introduction to Hometown Bank facilitated by Mr. Awad — (Burns) also opened a credit card account’ with the bank, the memo said.”
“Burns in 2024 failed to make the minimum payments on the Hometown Bank credit card and exceeded the card’s charging limit and the bank sued him. The suit was later settled after Burns paid what was owed, the memo said.”
“Simultaneously, Burns was taking out and paying back loans from Awad. Burns paid back the $109,000 he borrowed from Awad in a series of nine checks, the first dated Halloween 2023. The rest of the checks were spread out over the next 14 months.”
There was no evidence that Burns paid any interest on the loans. The loans are a possible of state ethics laws preventing state employees getting benefits from boosters or vendors.
Burns was making $500,000 as Kent State’s head coach. A November CBS Sports story centered around the $24,000 that he owed to Hometown Bank and that the bank had filed suit for a lack of payments. The bank got a judgment in its favor, but it was dismissed after Burns paid back the money he owed.
Burns was an assistant coach at Minnesota before he was hired at Kent State ahead of the 2023 season. The Golden Flashes went 1-23 in his two seasons with the team and did not beat an FBS opponent. The team’s only win came in 2023 over Central Connecticut State and the Golden Flashes currently have the longest active losing streak at the top level of college football.
