Mississippi State closing in on OC hire, per report

Zach Arnett reportedly has his offensive coordinator.

Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reports that Mississippi State is finalizing a deal with App State OC Kevin Barbay.

Mississippi State is finalizing a deal to hire App State OC Kevin Barbay as its next offensive coordinator, sources tell @SINow.

Barbay, a Jim McElwain disciple, has captained offenses the last two years at App and Central Michigan that have ranked in the top 32 in the nation.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 12, 2023

Barbay has some SEC familiarity as an off-field assistant. He was the director of player development at Florida from 2015-to-2017 under Jim McElwain.

After a year at Stephen F. Austin as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach (2018), Barbay reunited with McElwain at Central Michigan. Barbay was CMU’s assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for the 2019 and ’20 seasons. McElwain promoted Barbay to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Central Michigan’s 2021 campaign.

Barbay left Central Michigan after the 2021 season to take the offensive coordinator position at App State for 2022. App State went 6-6 in 2022. Under Barbay, App State averaged 34.9 points per game in 2022, which ranked No. 23 nationally in scoring offense.