College football coach Kenni Burns is on the first year of a five-year contract with Kent State. However, a solid chunk of his next paycheck will need to help pay off his credit card debt.
According to a lawsuit filed in the Portage County Court of Common Pleas earlier this month, the 40-year-old owes Kent’s Hometown Bank more than $20,000.
Burns will make $475,000 as the Golden Flashes’ coach this season. He is on the hook for $23,852.09, with a yearly interest rate of 13.5%, after he allegedly spent more than the $20K limit set on his Hometown Bank Mastercard. As listed in the credit card statement in the court docket, it would take approximately 33 years to pay the debt in full if he makes the minimum payment each month. It would take about three years if he pays $809 per month.
Kenni Burns is in debt.
Court documents do not provide information on what Burns purchased to accrue this amount of debt. Hometown Bank began the lawsuit on Sept. 13 with a complaint against the second-year head coach for a failure to meet the minimum monthly payments on his credit card. An attached credit card statement that closed on Aug. 5, 2024 states that the account was already 60 days past due.
Although demand has been made upon Burns to liquidate the balance due and owing, Burns has failed to do so.
— Hometown Bank
Burns did not respond to the initial complaint or plead otherwise to the charge, so he received a default judgement. This is the first case filed against him in Portage County.
Plaintiff attorney Jason Whitacre spoke with CBS’ Richard Johnson about the matter.
The documents attached to the complain and the allegations in the complaint kind of speak for themselves.
— Jason Whitacre
Burns offered the following statement:
My wife and I are aware of a legal matter involving debt related to paying off a recent remodel and move. We are working swiftly to address this matter.
— Kenni Burns
Kent State is the worst team in college football this season. The Flashes are 0-11. They went 1-11 last year.
Kenni Burns was hired as the successor to Sean Lewis. He was not expected to be successful right away and there continues to be an understanding that this rebuild is going to take some time. However, nobody expected it to be quite this bad so Burns is on the hot seat.
If the university decides to give him another year, he will need to get closer to bowl eligibility— at least. If not, Kent State might cut him loose after Year 3 if it does not choose to do so in the coming weeks.
Given his current credit card situation, Burns would likely prefer to keep his job and probably will. His contract was rolled over last February so he is on the first year of a five-year deal worth $515,000 per year. Should the Flashes cut him loose, which does not seem to be the case despite the increasing temperature of his seat, the buyout would still cover the outstanding credit card debt.