Kennesaw State to fire head coach Brian Bohannon
Kennesaw State is firing head coach Brian Bohannon, multiple sources tell On3. Bohannon led the Owls to four FCS playoff appearances and was the 2017 FCS Coach of the Year.
Kennesaw State jumped to the FBS level this season, struggling with a 1-8 record and a 1-4 mark in Conference USA. When Bohannon was hired in March 2013, the Kennesaw State football program was just starting. The Owls did not start playing games until 2015. Bohannon helped the Owls win the Big South Conference title in 2017, 2018 and 2021.
Co-offensive coordinator Chandler Burks is expected to be named interim head coach. A source told On3 that Kennesaw State has hired a search firm. Bohannon finishes his stint with a 72–37 overall record. However, with the school hoping to compete at the FBS level, athletic director Milton Overton is changing the leadership of the football program.
A former Georgia wide receiver who made assistant coaching stops throughout the FCS level at the beginning of his career, Bohannon was most recently an assistant at Navy and Georgia Tech before taking the Kennesaw State job.
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Bohannon is expected to be owed a $605,333 buyout. The head coach was critical to Kennesaw State success from its start in football. The Owls won 48 games over their first five seasons. It is also the first start-up program in college football history to post three consecutive 11-win seasons during its first five years of competition.
Bohannon is working with a different administration than when he was first brought in. Kennesaw State president Kathy S. Schwaig started in 2022 and Milton Overton was named athletic director in 2017. The lone win for the Owls this season was a stunning 27-24 upset of Liberty in October.
A four-time finalist for the Eddie Robinson award as the nation’s top FCS head coach, Bohannon is tied for first in Big South Conference history with 63 victories and he became the fastest coach to win 45 games when he reached the benchmark with a 38-35 win over Campbell on Nov. 9, 2019.