Former NFL wide receiver Josh Cribbs played college football at Kent State and could soon be named as the program’s next head coach. He teased a return to his alma mater on Saturday just two days after Kenni Burns was placed on administrative leave amid a myriad of questions about his conduct.
It could be a campaign for the job. It could be a sign of what is soon to come. Time will tell.
Let’s first start with a breakdown of what we know about the current college football coach at Kent State. Burns has yet to be fired but it seems inevitable. Not only did the Golden Flashes finish with the worst record in the country last season at 0-12, they won only one game the year prior. The 41-year-old is 1-23 in his first 24 games as a head coach. Is that bad?
To make things worse, Burns has been under investigation for several months. Kent State is currently looking into multiple different matters, many of which have not been made public. It will likely cut him loose in the coming days/weeks after placing him on administrative leave.
Although we do not know exactly what is going on with Burns or his family, the most prominent issue is probably related to a lawsuit filed against him at the end of November. He was sued by a local bank for more than $20,000 in unpaid credit card debt right in the middle of his second season.
Additional details are surely going to come out as this bizarre saga continues to unfold but that is the gist. There are a lot of unconfirmed and largely unfounded rumors about gambling and fraud which may or may not prove to be true. We’ll see. I would imagine that there is a lot more to this whole thing.
With Burns presumably on his way out, Josh Cribbs wants to replace him. The former First-Team All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler had his jersey retired by Kent State after a legendary career with the Golden Flashes.
He posted the following image on Instagram on Saturday:
What does it mean?! Do the Golden Flashes already have their successor to Burns in mind or is Cribbs just throwing his hat in the ring?!
Kent State does not have anything to lose at this point. It is a college football program that cannot get much worse. Assuming that Kenni Burns is soon to be fired, why not go with a guy like Josh Cribbs? The hire would at the very least bring some much-needed juice to Ohio. He knows the game as well as anyone. He knows the university as well as anyone.
Burns needs to be let go first. Let’s start there. With that being said, Cribbs would be cool hire!