Brian Bohannon was fired as the head football coach at Kennesaw State. He did not resign from his post or step down from his role, despite what the university indicated on Sunday.
The 53-year-old wants to make that nuance explicitly clear.
Bohannon did not leave on his own accord. It was the university’s decision to cut him loose. Kennesaw State fired the man who built the program up from the ground— literally.
The Owls only created a team in 2013 and immediately tapped Bohannon as their head coach. They played their first game, as a member of the Big South Conference on the FCS level, in 2015.
Despite all of the challenges it faces as a first-year program, Kennesaw State finished above .500 in its first year of existence. The Owls went 8-3 in year two.
If that was not impressive enough, they won no less than 11 games in their next four seasons (not including 2020 because of the pandemic) and twice reached the FCS quarterfinals as conference champions. You really can’t ask much more of a team that is less than 10 years old!
Brian Bohannon is a program builder!
In large part because of Kennesaw’s early success, the university started its transition to the FBS level after 2022. This season, 2024, is the program’s first on the highest level of college football. Its only head coach in scholl history began the year with a job. He was relieved of his duties on Monday.
The premature decision does not make a lot of sense.
Bohannon did a phenomenal job on the FCS level and the first season with an FBS schedule was always going to be a challenge. It proved to be exactly that. The Owls started 0-6.
However, they pulled one of the biggest upsets in college football history with a win over undefeated Liberty and their fans stormed the field not just once, but twice!
That singular win in itself should be heralded as a monumental feat for a program that was not even playing games a decade ago. Bohannon did that.
Unfortunately, Kennesaw apparently expected more. A 1-8 record apparently won’t cut it.
According to the university, Bohannon “decided to step down” as head coach on Sunday.
Coach Brian Bohannon informed me this morning that he has decided to step down as our head football coach. I want to express my sincere appreciation to Coach Bohannon and his family for their dedication to Kennesaw State University and our football program over the past 11 years. Coach Bohannon led Kennesaw State into the football era, poured his heart and soul into this program, and represented our university with the highest standards of professionalism and character.”
— KSU Director of Athletics Milton Overton
According to Bohannon, the university is lying. He did not resign.
This morning I was informed directly from AD Overton that he was making a change in leadership. Contrary to what’s been reported, I want to be clear that I did not step down from my position as head football coach at Kennesaw State University.
Since we started the football program, I have had the pleasure of coaching and working alongside so many great people. I appreciate your hard work and dedication to this program.
— Brian Bohannon
This is a rather significant discrepancy for two reasons.
First and foremost, the decision to fire Bohannon does not reflect well on the leadership at Kennesaw. He has had nothing but success since 2013, including this year. Although eight losses is not ideal, that lone win over the Flames is one of the most impressive victories of all-time and this team was not going to be overly successful in its first season on the FBS level.
In addition to optics, there is a rather big difference between a resignation and a firing when it comes to buyout. If Brian Bohannon stepped down, he would not get paid as much as if he was fired.
Kennesaw State said its head coach resigned. Its now-former head coach says not so fast!