By removing the interim label and hiring Mark Carney as its football coach, Kent State University stayed home in more ways than one.

Instead of carrying out its initial plan to conduct a national coaching search after the 2025 season, Kent State leadership stayed home with its in-house hire of Carney .

Kent State also stayed home by making a Northeast Ohio native its football team’s head coach for the first time since Boardman’s Dick Crum held the job from 1988-90.

The 45-year-old Carney was born in Cleveland and raised in Lakewood, where his parents moved when he was about 6. He played quarterback at St. Edward High School and then Fordham University in New York before entering the coaching ranks.

Now Carney is a first-time head coach — without the interim tag. Kent State at

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