Kent State contingencies
Outside of Sanders, Burns at Kent State has the most nuanced and detailed contract. Along with the ticket sales and gambling clauses mentioned above, Burns cannot contact or recruit Kent State players within one year of leaving Kent State, and the football budget can be aided by playing Power 5 nonconference games (aka “money guarantee games”). This same game clause was put in former head coach Sean Lewis’ last contract because
the Golden Flashes play so many of them.
If the schedule includes one guarantee game worth at least $1 million, $50,000 will go directly to the football budget. If two games, it’s $100,000. If there are three, it’s $200,000. Of that money, 75 percent will be used for student-athlete-facing projects. In 2024, Kent State plays at
Pitt,
Penn State and Tennessee.
As for recruiting Kent State players upon departure,
few schools lost more to the portal than Kent State, which lost its quarterback, top three receivers and two offensive linemen to Power 5 schools after Lewis went to Colorado to become Sanders’ offensive coordinator. One of those linemen followed Lewis to Boulder. The language reflects growing concern from G5 schools about losing a head coach to a bigger school and the top players following him there.
Burns must also “Provide positive and constructive public statements regarding the FOOTBALL Team, athletics program, athletics staff, coaches, the University and the University staff.”
