Kent State promotes Mark Carney from interim to full-time head coach

The 2025 coaching carousel has been chaotic, but now, midway through the season, the Kent State Golden Flashes have made the first hire. They’ll be removing the interim tag from Mark Carney, making him the full-time head coach, per On3’s Pete Nakos.

Kent State, historically one of the most difficult jobs in FBS football, is currently 3-5 on the season. That includes a 2-2 start in MAC play. That also includes three losses to Power Four teams, all of which were ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time the two teams played.

Carney took over as the interim coach from Kenni Burns, who led the team in 2023 and 2024. However, in March of 2025, he was placed on administrative leave. Later, he was formally fired in April. During his two seasons with the program, Burns had a 1-23 record at Kent State. So, Carney inherited a very difficult situation during the offseason.

Prior to becoming the interim head coach at Kent State, Mark Carney had been an assistant coach on Kenni Burns’ staff. In 2023, he worked with the tight ends and wide receivers. Then, in 2024, he would become the team’s offensive coordinator. That’s a role he has continued to hold after becoming the interim head coach this season.

The promotion of Carney is, apparently, very popular in the Kent State locker room. Pete Thamel reported, “The Kent State team was just informed of Carney being named permanent coach. The team ‘erupted’ in celebration, per a source, and began chanting his name.”

An Ohio native, Carney was a quarterback at Fordham from 1998-2001. That’s where he later began his coaching career as a student assistant. He then has multiple stops, including in the MAC with Bowling Green, before getting to Kent State. He has also previously been the offensive coordinator at three previous stops, at the Division III, Division II, and Division I levels.

This marks the first hire of the 2025 cycle. It’s a cycle that began early, with Kent State and Stanford coming into the start of the season with interim head coaches. However, there have also been multiple in-season firings before the calendar turns to November. That includes changes at massive jobs like Penn State, Florida, and now LSU. In total, 12 jobs have already opened.

More jobs are expected to open, and as teams hire away head coaches from other programs, it’s expected that the carousel is going to have some massive changes coming. The question is just where it stops. For Kent State, the Golden Flashes have their head coach moving forward before anyone else.