KENT — When Mark Carney heard Josh Cribbs wanted the coaching job Carney would eventually secure at the helm of the Kent State University football program, a lightbulb went off.
“Maybe that was my initial clue into, ‘Oh, this guy wants to be a coach,’” Carney said.
With Cribbs on Carney’s radar and Kent State losing special teams coordinator CJ Conrad to the Miami Dolphins this past winter, the stars aligned for a reunion between Cribbs and his alma mater.
“Timing is everything, right?” Cribbs said.
In late April, Kent State announced it hired Cribbs, a legendary KSU and Browns player, as a special teams analyst on Carney’s coaching staff.
Carney and Cribbs discussed the decision in recent interviews with the Beacon Journal. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how and why they joined forces:
Mark Carney wants ‘ambitious’ coaches like Josh Cribbs on Kent State football team’s staff
Carney had crossed paths with Cribbs multiple times in the past few years. One or two of those encounters occurred when Cribbs brought his teenage son, Israel, to a Kent State camp. Another happened when Carney ran into Cribbs at Browns training camp last summer in Berea, where Carney watched former KSU wide receiver Luke Floriea practice as an undrafted rookie.
But the two men occasionally rubbing elbows isn’t why Cribbs landed on Carney’s list of coaching candidates.
In March 2025, Cribbs publicly expressed a desire to coach Kent State after former Golden Flashes coach Kenni Burns had been placed on administrative leave. The following month, KSU fired Burns and promoted Carney from offensive coordinator to interim coach.
At the time, Kent State was coming off a winless 2024 season and a combined record of 1-23 in 2023 and 2024 under Burns. Carney, though, immediately led the team to a reversal of fortunes last fall. KSU finished the 2025 season with a record of 5-7, including 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
During this past season, with KSU 3-5, 2-2 in the MAC, the university removed the interim tag from Carney and signed the Cleveland native through the 2029 season.
Carney had attained security, but how did he become comfortable with hiring a Kent State icon who had been gunning for his job?
“Whether their passion is the job I have and the chair I sit in, great — I want ambitious people,” Carney said. “I want to hire coaches that want to go places, and this was another opportunity to do that.
“To go where we all want to go, whether that’s on the football field or in life, you’ve got to really embrace the no-ego thing. We talk to our players and preach about it all the time. This was another opportunity to put it into action. This is not Mark Carney’s football program. This is the Kent State University football program. I don’t want it to be mine. It’s ours. It’s we, our, us.”
Instead of being threatened by Cribbs’ hunger, Carney saw a chance to boost his staff.
“He wants to win,” Cribbs said of Carney. “So, if I’m a head coach, I want the best people around me. I want the best quarterback coach, the best coordinators, everything. And my take is Coach wants to win. He wants to surround himself with people that are going to win, but not just people that are going to win, but people that are going to buy into what he’s selling.
“We’re going to converse, and we’re going to figure out the best way to do things, meaning that the head coach or the coordinator has the ultimate say. And then everybody underneath coaches it like it comes from them. So, I told them that’s how I operate. I’m going to give you my best and all I’ve got, and then whatever you say is the ultimate say, and then whatever flows through you flows through me as if it’s coming from me. So, when you have that type of culture, we fit because we both want [to achieve] the same goal.”
CJ Conrad leaving Kent State football program for Miami Dolphins opened door for Josh Cribbs’ homecoming at KSU
Conrad was one of Carney’s top assistants in 2025. Conrad not only guided KSU’s standout special teams headlined by two dynamic return men — Da’Realyst Clark on kickoffs and Wayne Harris on a punts — but he also served as Golden Flashes tight ends coach.
“I think the world of CJ Conrad and what he did here,” Carney said. “He wore a lot of hats.”
The Dolphins identified Conrad as a rising star in the coaching ranks and hired him as an offensive assistant on new Miami coach Jeff Hafley’s staff. News of the development broke on Feb. 20.
Carney concluded replacing Conrad would require two hires, leading to Dave Bucar being added as a tight ends coach and Cribbs as a special teams analyst.
Cribbs said he spoke to members of Kent State’s athletic department during a career-building event on Feb. 24, and Carney invited him to a spring practice for an audition.
“I had the opportunity to see it firsthand, the new Coach Mac regime, and immediately fell in love with the culture,” Cribbs said. “He had me outside working with the guys, kind of getting in where I fit in, and I wanted more.”
After the practice, Cribbs asked Carney if he could run a drill during another training session. And to conduct the drill properly, Cribbs told Carney, Cribbs would need to lead a meeting with the players beforehand. Carney accepted the proposal.
“He taught the room for a day,” Carney said, “and it was like, ‘OK. This guy, he’s got it.’”
What is Josh Cribbs’ salary as assistant coach with Kent State football?
There was never a question about Cribbs possessing the requisite football knowledge to become a coach. He excelled as a quarterback at Kent State before becoming one of the best Browns players since the franchise’s expansion era launched in 1999.
Cribbs played wide receiver and special teams for the Browns during a 10-season (2005-14) NFL career, which included stints with the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts. As a returner, he made three Pro Bowls (2007, 2009 and 2012) and was voted first-team Associated Press All-Pro (2009) and second-team All-Pro (2007).
However, developing a voice as a coach requires a different skill set than mastering a subject. Cribbs had dabbled in coaching in the past, and he convinced Carney he’s ready for more. The two sides engaged in talks for several weeks before Cribbs was hired. Carney said Cribbs’ “genuine humility” came across during their conversations.
“We sat down, shoot, two or three times and what jumped out at me was, one, his passion for Kent State and what this place allowed and the doors it opened for him and then, two, his willingness to share,” Carney added.
Kent State hired Cribbs as an at-will employee, and his salary is $75,000, a KSU official told the Beacon Journal in response to a public records request.
Cribbs is the only member of Carney’s coaching staff with the words “special teams” in his title.
“He’s our special teams coordinator for all intents and purposes,” Carney said.
Why did Kent State and Cleveland Browns great Josh Cribbs opt to dive into a football coaching career?
From Kent State’s perspective, reuniting with Cribbs made sense because Carney needed to replace Conrad.
But why is this the right time for Cribbs to immerse himself in his first full-time coaching job?
“My son is getting older, and my daughter just graduated college,” Cribbs said. “I’m like, ‘I need to get back in this thing.’ I miss playing. … Coaching, for me, is the closest thing to I’m going to be able to play.”
Cribbs took advantage of coaching internships with the Browns in 2018 and Houston Texans in 2019. He coached special teams in the 2023 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Those experiences left Cribbs with a desire to further scratch the itch to coach.
“For me to be able to transfer the knowledge I have into a guy and then go watch him use that knowledge and have success, that’s like I’m talking to my children, it’s like I’m doing it myself, and that’s what I get out of this,” Cribbs said. “So, for me, it’s recess.”
Cribbs said he came close to working under former Browns special teams coordinator Chris Tabor as a member of Buffalo’s coaching staff, yet the arrangement fizzled when the Bills fired coach Sean McDermott in January. The coaching change atop the organization led Tabor to the Dolphins, where, coincidentally, he works with Conrad.
The 43-year-old Cribbs explained he had his mind set on coaching in the NFL, with one exception.
“I had no intentions coaching at the collegiate level,” Cribbs said. “When having the opportunity to coach here, I don’t see that as coaching at the collegiate level. That’s my f—— alma mater. I freaking love Kent, so it’s more of a duty than an opportunity for me.”
The direction of Kent State football under Carney also made a homecoming appealing to Cribbs. In addition to spending time at spring practices, Cribbs asked longtime KSU equipment manager Clifton Ragin Jr. for a scouting report on the Carney era. Ragin provided a rave review. Cribbs said he trusts Ragin, who worked at KSU when Cribbs was a Golden Flashes star.
“Getting the validation from Cliff and from my eyes and what I was feeling, I’m like, “Wow! This is a great culture,’” Cribbs said.
Cribbs said his eagerness for a job at Kent State compelled him to post a video on social media on April 14. In the video, Cribbs revealed he had visited the football team, and he also praised Carney.
“What he has been able to do in just a short period of time, A-plus,” Cribbs said in the video.
Although Cribbs and Carney had been talking about uniting, Cribbs said he didn’t know he would be hired by Kent State when he posted the video. Cribbs said it was his way of reminding KSU decision-makers he had a strong appetite for the job.
“I wanted to either check that box or X that box,” Cribbs said. “Hey, I’m trying to get there. Did [Carney] see enough from me? Do you need me to come back out there and show you some more? So, again, the timing had to be right, and even though they probably already knew that they were going to make that move, I was wondering, like, ‘Let me know, so I can do this and do that.’”
On April 29, Kent State announced it hired Cribbs.
And KSU football could eventually benefit from a father-son duo. Israel Cribbs is preparing for his junior season as a quarterback at Archbishop Hoban High School. On May 13, Israel Cribbs announced on social media he received his first Division I college scholarship offer from the Golden Flashes.
“Hopefully he plays well to have an opportunity to wear a Kent State uniform,” Josh Cribbs said. “Hopefully he’ll do better and garner even Power Four schools.
“I think fathers genuinely want their sons to follow in their footsteps, but I just want him to outdo me. … I can only dream that he would do that. But I [played football]. That was my dream. If it’s not his, I’m going to support him in whatever he does.”
In the meantime, the elder Cribbs will be on a mission.
“Coach Carney brought me in for a reason,” Cribbs said. “I’m going to prove to everybody he made the best choice.”
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Inside Kent State football hiring Josh Cribbs as an assistant coach
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
