Kennesaw State football coach Brian Bohannon steps down after 10 seasons amid first year in FBS

In what’s setting up to be a relatively quiet college football coaching carousel, an FBS school now has a coaching vacancy.

Kennesaw State coach Brian Bohannon has stepped down after 10 seasons, the university announced Sunday.

The decision comes a day after the Owls fell to UTEP 43-35 in double overtime, a setback that dropped them to 1-8 in their first season as an FBS program.

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Bohannon was the first and only coach in the history of the Kennesaw State program, which was launched in 2015 and spent its first nine seasons at the FCS level.

In his 10 seasons with the Owls, Bohannon went 72-38, including a 49-10 mark from 2017-21, when he helped build the nascent Kennesaw State program into an FCS contender. During that five-season stretch, the Owls made the FCS playoffs four times and advanced to the quarterfinals twice.

Over the past three seasons, though, Kennesaw State has gone just 9-20. This season included a surprising 27-24 victory against previously undefeated Liberty on October 23, but the Owls have been largely uncompetitive, with only one of their eight losses this season coming by a single score.

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"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,” Kennesaw State athletic director Milton Overton said in a statement. “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."

Co-offensive coordinator Chandler Burks will serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. Burks is a former star quarterback at Kennesaw State who was twice named the Big South offensive player of the year.

The Owls become the sixth FBS program with a head-coaching opening, joining Utah State, Fresno State, East Carolina, Southern Miss and Rice.