Mississippi State finalizes agreement with Zach Arnett to be next DC, per report
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Mississippi State has finalized a deal to bring Zach Arnett back to Starkville as defensive coordinator, according to a report on Saturday night by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Thamel reported that the school and Arnett have completed the details on a 3-year deal that brings the former Mississippi State head coach and assistant back to the program yet again. Arnett will return to the program he led as the head coach in 2023 to be the defensive coordinator under current head coach Jeff Lebby.
Arnett went 5-6 as the head coach in Starkville before being fired in November 2023 with 2 games still left in the regular season. But Arnett’s history with the program goes way beyond that. He was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State from 2020-2022, and now it appears that Arnett is heading back to that same position in 2026 after spending the 2024 season as an analyst at Ole Miss and the 2025 season as an analyst at Florida State.
He will be replacing Coleman Hutzler, who according to another Thamel report on Saturday morning was informed by Mississippi State that he wouldn’t be returning to the program next year.
Thamel also reported on Saturday morning that the school was targeting Arnett to be the new DC, and later on the same day it appears Arnett is heading back to a very familiar place for the 2026 season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
