Head Coaching Record (nine seasons)
Overall: 71-30 (.703)
Conference: 30-12 (.714)
Home: 44-9 (.830)
Top-25 History
Awards & Honors
• 2021 Eddie Robinson Award - Finalist (10th place)
• 2021 Big South Coach of the Year
• 2018 Eddie Robinson Award - Runner-Up
• 2018 AFCA District Coach of the Year
• 2018 Big South Coach of the Year
• 2017 Eddie Robinson Award – Finalist (3rd place)
• 2017 AFCA FCS National Coach of the Year
• 2017 Big South Coach of the Year
• 2016 Eddie Robinson Award – Finalist (8th place)
A program built on Effort, Attitude and Toughness, head coach Brian Bohannon has constructed Kennesaw State from the ground up and turned the Owls into a powerhouse program at the FCS level in just eight years. Now entering his 10th season, he's readying to take Owl Nation into its next chapter -- NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and its inaugural year in Conference USA.
Hired on March 24, 2013 and tasked with building a football program from scratch, Bohannon embraced the challenge and quickly turned Kennesaw State into the best five-year start-up program in college football history in 2019 with a 48-15 overall record, two Big South Conference championships, three straight appearances in the FCS Playoffs and four playoff victories.
Bohannon is a four-time finalist for the Eddie Robinson award as the nation’s top FCS head coach, including a runner-up finish in 2018 and a third-place finish in 2017. He was named the AFCA National Coach of the Year in 2017 and is a three-time Big South Conference Coach of the Year.
He is tied for first in Big South Conference history with 63 victories and he became the fastest coach to win 45 games when he reached the benchmark with a 38-35 win over Campbell on Nov. 9, 2019. In the first five years of the program, 100 national polls have been released with the Owls appearing in over 67-percent of the rankings. Of those 100 polls, Kennesaw State has been inside the top-10 41-percent of the time.
He tallied his 70th victory at the helm of the Owls on Oct. 28, 2023 vs. Lincoln and inked the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history in 2024. KSU enters Conference USA in fall 2024 with the third-highest win percentage among current CUSA programs (.703). Entering its first season at the FBS level, the Owls rank first in the state of Georgia among DI football programs in rushing yards per game (297.55) and second in win percentage (.703), points per game (33.23) and turnovers forced (176) since KSU's first season of competition in 2015.
The 2022 season had many highlights displayed in the national news, with the first being the October announcement that Kennesaw State would be joining CUSA. A few months later, KSU football returned to the spotlight when defensive lineman Travis Bell became the program's first player to be selected in the NFL Draft. Bell was chosen by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round to etch his name in Owl football history.
In its final season in the Big South, Kennesaw State "left it right," winning the 2021 conference title with a 49-17 rout of Monmouth and sealing a 7-0 conference record. The Black and Gold were ranked the entire season and made it as high as No. 4 in the AFCA Coaches poll. An 11-2 campaign saw KSU earn a fourth FCS Playoff appearance and a 48-21 win over Pioneer League champion Davidson in the opening round.
The 2019 season was the beginning of a new era in Kennesaw State football, as the original signing class moved on and gave way to a new crop of talented players hungry to continue the championship tradition. Not only did the team deliver, but they recorded the program’s third-straight 11-win season and made a return trip to the FCS Playoffs where they knocked off No. 11 Wofford on the road in the opening round.
After putting the world on notice in 2017 with a 12-2 season, the Owls somehow outdid themselves during the 2018 campaign. Ranked No. 2 in the nation for much of the year, KSU earned the No. 4 overall seed in the playoffs and took an 11-game winning streak to a second consecutive quarterfinal appearance where the Owls held the third-longest home streak in the nation that dated back over two calendar years.
Bohannon, 50, put Kennesaw State on the map in 2017 when he led the Owls to a 12-2 season and an outright Big South Championship after finishing conference play undefeated at 5-0. Holding the country’s top rushing offense, the Owls would make their first postseason berth in stellar fashion, getting revenge from their season-opening loss to Samford by winning 28-17 to advance.
The Owls then upset No. 3 Jacksonville State in the second round by scoring 14 unanswered second-half points to win 17-7. KSU’s historic run would falter in the quarterfinals in a tough 34-27 loss to No. 5 Sam Houston State, but not before solidifying a young Kennesaw State team as one of the nation’s top programs.
Under Bohannon’s tutelage emerged one of the country’s premiere quarterbacks in Chandler Burks who was named the 2018 College Football Performance Awards FCS National Performer of the Year. He also finished runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, given to the nation’s top FCS offensive player. He ended his career with a 31-6 record as the starting quarterback, a league record 56 rushing touchdowns and 3,431 yards on the ground.
The national awards shifted to the defensive side of the ball in 2017, as Bryson Armstrong brought home the prestigious Jerry Rice Award as the FCS National Freshman of the Year. On his way to first-team All-America honors, Armstrong finished the 2017 campaign with 114 total tackles (85 solo), 12.5 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, three interceptions, seven pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, four recovered fumbles, three forced fumbles and one blocked kick.
It took Bohannon just two seasons to vie for a Big South Conference title and reach the Top 25 as the Owls finished their debut year 6-5 before posting an 8-3 mark in 2016.
His first two teams at Kennesaw State won 14 times in 22 games while posting eye-popping offensive numbers. The Owls rushed for 293 yards per game in 2015, which led the Big South and ranked sixth nationally. His offense then surpassed that number in 2016, rolling up 320.6 yards per game on the ground to finish third in the FCS. The last three seasons saw KSU record the three best rushing seasons in Big South history behind VMI’s record-breaking 357.5 yards in 2008.
In 2015, the Owls lit up the scoreboard with 41 touchdowns and 429.8 yards of total offense per game. The following year, the Black & Gold was the only team in the FCS to finish ranked in the top 10 in total offense (479.5 ypg), rushing (320.6 ypg), scoring (38.9 ppg), pass efficiency (156.72), third-down (49 percent) and fourth-down conversions (70 percent).
Bohannon’s Owls began their debut season 4-1 in non-conference action and made history again with a 12-7 win over Gardner-Webb on October 17 as Kennesaw State became the first Big South member to win its first conference game in its initial year as a member.
The early-season success gave Bohannon’s team national recognition in the polls for the first time as KSU spent three consecutive weeks among teams receiving votes in the FCS Stats Top 25 beginning October 19.
Another Big South win over Monmouth allowed the Owls to clinch a winning record. The team finished 6-5 to tie Georgia State for the third-best record by an FCS program in its inaugural season.
In a sideline career that’s spanned 23 years as either an assistant or head coach, Bohannon has been part of teams that averaged 8.6 wins per season and reached the postseason 18 times. Prior to Kennesaw State, he was a part of two national championships while at Georgia Southern, while Georgia Tech played in a bowl game in each of his five seasons on staff.
A Griffin, Georgia, native and former wide receiver at the University of Georgia, Bohannon joined the Owls after spending the previous five seasons as quarterbacks/B-backs coach at Georgia Tech where he helped engineer one of the country’s most prolific spread option offenses.
During Bohannon’s time at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets finished in the top four nationally in rushing offense every season and led the nation in rushing in 2010. No team in college football rushed for more yards than Georgia Tech, which accumulated more than 20,000 yards during his last five seasons.
Under Bohannon’s direction, former Georgia Tech quarterbacks Tevin Washington and Joshua Nesbitt emerged as two of the most prolific signal callers in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) history. Nesbitt and Washington combined to rush for more than 5,000 yards and rank first and third, respectively, in ACC history for career rushing yards by a quarterback.
Under Bohannon, four players rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season -- B-back Jonathan Dwyer in 2008, Dwyer and Nesbitt in 2009, and B-back Anthony Allen in 2010. Dwyer was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2008 and 2009. Nesbitt was the first-team All-ACC quarterback in 2009, and Allen was first-team All-ACC in 2010. Dwyer and Allen went on to NFL careers.
Before arriving at Georgia Tech, Bohannon spent six years as wide receivers coach at Navy. He was part of a staff that returned the Midshipmen to the national spotlight. Navy won 35 games over four years, earning a school-record four consecutive bowl berths and a school-best four straight Commander-in-Chief’s Trophies.
Prior to his appointment on Johnson’s staff at Navy, Bohannon coached the wide receivers for three seasons at Georgia Southern before taking over the defensive backs his last two years.
In each of those five seasons in Statesboro, the Eagles advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, finished as national runner-up in 1998 and claimed back-to-back national championships in 1999 and 2000.
A four-year letterwinner and standout wide receiver at Georgia, Bohannon started his coaching career at West Georgia before earning his first full-time position at Gardner-Webb (N.C.) as wide receivers’ coach in 1996.
Bohannon earned his bachelor’s degree in general business from Georgia in 1993 and a master’s in business education from West Georgia in 1996.
Residing in Woodstock, Bohannon is married to the former Melanie Cobb. The two have three children, sons Blake and Braden, and daughter Brooke Anna.
Brian Bohannon’s Coaching Career
| 1996 |
Gardner-Webb |
Wide Receivers |
| 1997 |
Georgia Southern |
Wide Receivers |
| 1998 |
Georgia Southern |
Wide Receivers |
| 1999 |
Georgia Southern |
Wide Receivers |
| 2000 |
Georgia Southern |
Defensive Backs |
| 2001 |
Georgia Southern |
Defensive Backs |
| 2002 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2003 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2004 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2005 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2006 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2007 |
Navy |
Wide Receivers |
| 2008 |
Georgia Tech |
Quarterbacks/B-Backs |
| 2009 |
Georgia Tech |
Quarterbacks/B-Backs |
| 2010 |
Georgia Tech |
Quarterbacks/B-Backs |
| 2011 |
Georgia Tech |
Quarterbacks/B-Backs |
| 2012 |
Georgia Tech |
Quarterbacks/B-Backs |
| 2015 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 6-5 Record |
| 2016 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 8-3 Record |
| 2017 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 12-2 Record |
| 2018 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 11-2 Record |
| 2019 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 11-3 Record |
| 2020 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 4-1 Record* Played in Spring '21 |
| 2021 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 11-2 Record |
| 2022 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 5-6 Record |
| 2023 |
Kennesaw State |
Head Coach | 3-6 Record |
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Career Record in Nine Seasons: 71-30 |
Brian Bohannon’s Postseason History
| 1997 |
Georgia Southern |
Division I-AA Playoffs |
| 1998 |
Georgia Southern |
Division I-AA Playoffs (National Runner-Up) |
| 1999 |
Georgia Southern |
Division I-AA Playoffs (National Champion) |
| 2000 |
Georgia Southern |
Division I-AA Playoffs (National Champion) |
| 2001 |
Georgia Southern |
Division I-AA Playoffs |
| 2003 |
Navy |
EV1.net Houston Bowl |
| 2004 |
Navy |
Emerald Bowl |
| 2005 |
Navy |
Poinsettia Bowl |
| 2006 |
Navy |
Meineke Car Care Bowl |
| 2007 |
Navy |
Poinsettia Bowl |
| 2008 |
Georgia Tech |
Chick-fil-A Bowl |
| 2009 |
Georgia Tech |
FedEx Orange Bowl |
| 2010 |
Georgia Tech |
Independence Bowl |
| 2011 |
Georgia Tech |
Hyundai Sun Bowl |
| 2012 |
Georgia Tech |
Hyundai Sun Bowl |
| 2017 |
Kennesaw State |
Division I FCS Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 2018 |
Kennesaw State |
Division I FCS Playoffs (Quarterfinals) |
| 2019 |
Kennesaw State |
Division I FCS Playoffs (2nd Round) |
| 2021 |
Kennesaw State |
Division I FCS Playoffs (2nd Round) |
