Zach Arnett

Arnett attended La Cueva High School[1] and was a two-sport athlete in football and baseball. He originally accepted an offer to play for the New Mexico Lobos baseball team, but he earned a scholarship to the football team in the summer of 2005. He excelled on the field and in the classroom during his college career, earning six forced fumbles and was a first-team Academic All-American in 2008.[2]

After being away from football for two years, he became a graduate assistant at San Diego State under his New Mexico head coach Rocky Long. Within three years, he was promoted to linebackers coach. His linebacker unit produced five different All-Mountain West selections, including 3-time All-Mountain West selection Calvin Munson.[3] In 2018, he was promoted again, this time to defensive coordinator. Under him, San Diego State ranked 32nd in total defense in 2018 and 2nd in 2019, which was a 30-place gain from the year before.[4][5]

On January 11th, 2020, he was named the new defensive coordinator at Syracuse. The stint with Syracuse was short-lived though, as Mississippi State matched Syracuse’s offer on January 22nd.[6] He will inherit a defense that ranked 73rd in total defense and is losing seven starters. Before the 2021 season, Arnett interviewed with big programs like Oregon, LSU , and Texas for their DC vacancies, but Arnett decided to stay at Mississippi State.