Mark Carney
In his own words
South Carolina is a really good football team
I thought Dru played well
Second down was our bugaboo
Tackling on defense
He’s earned it, he wants it
It’s like you’re teaching a different level course
Just their overall physicality and athleticism
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
1–0 against his rivals.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
19th-best Kent State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Kenni Burns (2023–2024).
| Season | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||
| Record | 5–7 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #93 | #122 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||
| Pass rate | 42.6 | 42.5 | |
| Coordinators | |||
| OC | Clay Patterson | Clay Patterson | |
| DC | Cherokee Valeria | Cherokee Valeria | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||
| Offense | 31 | 28 | |
| Defense | 38 | 2 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||
| 1st-down pass% | 36.2 | 26.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 36.5 | — | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 53.3 | — | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in smaller-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
AI Narratives — “Kent State — stat check”.
Mark Carney
Offensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.