Kent State University has extended the contract of head football coach Sean Lewis through 2025. The salary details were not released.
Lewis is entering his fourth season leading the Golden Flashes.
He says the new, four-year contract takes care of student-athletes, his staff, and provides the team the resources it needs to compete at a championship level.
Lewis says current and former players are as excited as he is about the deal.
“Just to hear the pride that our alumni have, our football-specific alumni have, in just some of the messages that I received was again very humbling and really powerful.”
Lewis led the Flashes to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the mid 1970s. The team led Division One last season in total offense and scoring offense. At 35, he’s one of the youngest head coaches in college football.
Kent State’s new athletic director, Randale Richmond, has extended contracts for three coaches in the short time he's been on the job.
In June, Richmond extended basketball coach Rob Senderoff’s contract for five years, with a slightly lower base salary.
Richmond says Lewis has led the football program to success on the field and in the classroom with a team GPA over 3.0.
“We know what we’re here to do: graduate student-athletes boldly prepared for life after sport and win championships. That’s awesome. We know what our guiding principle is. So we have these things all set up and we’re repeating them and we’re actually doing them, giving examples of them every day.”
Kent State opens the 2021 season at Texas A&M on Sept. 4.