Kenni Burns sues Kent State, officials over 2025 firing

Former Kent State football coach Kenni Burns has sued the university and several top officials for wrongful termination, breach of contract and defamation, alleging that his April 2025 firing was the last step in the school’s “conspiracy” to save money.

Kent State fired Burns, who went 1-23 in two seasons as Golden Flashes coach, weeks after placing him on administrative leave. The university noted that Burns had significant and repetitive violations of the purchasing card (P-card) issued to him and that he violated Kent State’s conflict of interest and code of conduct policies.

Burns’ lawsuit, filed Monday, states that he never went through proper training for P-card use and that he provided receipts for several expenses that appeared on an audit report, which followed an October 2024 suspension of his P-card. The lawsuit noted that Burns had some financial challenges while at Kent State due, in part, to some flooding in his home that forced him to temporarily relocate. Burns also alleges he wasn’t paid his full salary and that he had sent Kent State a check for more than $7,000 to cover a portion of the disputed P-card expenses, which the school cashed several weeks later.

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Kent State’s investigative report on Burns cited a sizable loan he received from Mike Awad, a prominent booster and vendor of the university, to assist with costs from the flood damage, which violated the school’s conflict of interest policy. The report noted that Burns repaid Awad $109,000 in a series of checks during a 14-month span in 2023 and 2024.

The lawsuit states that Burns accepted several monthly loans from Awad that he repaid with interest, and that he disclosed “money exchanging with … Awad” to executive deputy athletic director Greg Glaus. According to the complaint, Glaus told Burns that there would be no problem and that other Kent State employees had engaged in similar business arrangements with Awad.

Kent State’s investigative report stated there was “conflicting evidence” about whether Burns disclosed his agreement with Awad to the athletic department or other university leaders. As Burns’ complaint notes, Kent State’s report found no evidence of a quid pro quo relationship between Burns and Awad.

A Kent State spokeswoman told ESPN that the university does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit states that a “malicious scheme” to oust Burns began in early 2024, when the two sides were finalizing a one-year contract extension that would be announced that February. The extension contained an amendment that changed Burns’ payout if fired without cause — from a percentage of his remaining base salary over the length of the new deal through 2028 (approximately $2 million) to a percentage of his current base salary for that year (approximately $371,000).

“People can defend those actions to say, ‘Well, Kenni and his agents messed up. They should read the print,’ but that’s not a defense when you are talking about the grand scheme,” said Burns’ attorney Lee Hutton III. “And this is not where Kenni and his [advisors] just sat on their hands. They actually communicated with them and said, ‘Hey, this is wrong. We got to fix this. This is not what we discussed.’ And there was delay after delay after delay, and then the [2024] season didn’t go as planned.”

According to the complaint, Burns’ agent never discussed the termination amendment with Glaus, and Burns signed the agreement on the understanding that no changes to termination language from his original contact had been made. When Burns and his attorney asked athletic director Randale Richmond about the amendment, Richmond said it would be changed to reflect the original contract language, the lawsuit states. But when Burns’ agent asked for the adjustment, Richmond told him the school would not alter the terms.

In addition to Kent State, Burns’ lawsuit names Ochmann, university president Todd Diacon, senior vice president for finance and administration Mark Polatajko and the school’s board of trustees as defendants.

Kent State named Mark Carney interim coach for the 2025 season and gave Carney the permanent role Oct. 30.