Kenni Burns (born November 24, 1983) is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach and former player. He is the head coach for the Kent State Golden Flashes football team and the former

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

and assistant head coach for

Minnesota Golden Gophers football The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its ince ...

Playing career

Burns was a three-year letter winner at

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. As a student he played

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

from 2003 to 2006.

Coaching career

Minnesota

Burns followed

P. J. Fleck Philip John Fleck Jr. (born November 29, 1980) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He has served as the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team since 2017. Born in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Fleck played colle ...

from

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan, Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region a ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

2017, as the running back coach. In 2019, he was granted the additional title as assistant head coach. During his tenure, Burns coached Rodney Smith and all-American back Mohamed Ibrahim.

Kent State

On December 14, 2022, Burns was named the head coach for the

Kent State Golden Flashes The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level with football competing in ...

. His head coaching debut against the

University Of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

in the 2023-24 season is considered one of the worst in FBS history leading the Golden Flashes to a 6-56 defeat. His first season as head coach, he would lead Kent State to a 1-11 record, the worst in FBS college football in the 2023-24 season. The only win of the season would be a win against the FCS

Central Connecticut Blue Devils The Central Connecticut Blue Devils are composed of 16 teams representing Central Connecticut State University in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and track and field. Men's sports inclu ...

, the lowest ranked team in the FCS

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

at the time. Burns is currently on a multi-year 3+ million dollar coaching contract with Kent State Athletics which goes through the 2028 college football season.

Personal life

Burns is from

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. He graduated from

Sacred Heart-Griffin High School Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, often abbreviated SHG, is a Catholic high school located in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is the city's largest private school and is located in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The school ope ...

in 2003 and attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

where he graduated with a degree in general studies in 2006. Burns and his wife, Ciara, have two children.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Kent State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:BURNS, KENNI 1983 births Living people American football running backs Indiana Hoosiers football players Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Millersville Marauders football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches North Dakota State Bison football coaches Southern Illinois Salukis football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Players of American football from Springfield, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople