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Former Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett taking App State DC job, per report
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Mississippi State was once home for Zach Arnett, who was pressed into the head coaching position almost exactly 2 years ago after the sudden death of Mike Leach.
Arnett was fired late in the 2023 season, spent this season as an analyst on Lane Kiffin‘s staff at Ole Miss and now it appears he’s heading to his next coaching challenge far away from the state of Mississippi and the SEC jungle.
Sources have told FootballScoop that the 38-year-old Arnett is set to become the defensive coordinator at Appalachian State. Arnett is reportedly finalizing a deal to be Dowell Loggains’s first DC at the Sun Belt program.
This would be a huge hire for the Mountaineers, as Arnett just a couple of years ago was viewed as one of the hottest up-and-coming defensive coordinators in college football. Now, he’s reportedly heading to Appalachian State, which struggled this season before firing head coach Shawn Clark and hiring Loggains to replace him.
Arnett was a linebacker at New Mexico from 2005-08 who climbed through the coaching ranks at San Diego State and then at Mississippi State. After just 1 season under Kiffin, it appears that Arnett is ready to get back to his roots as a defensive coordinator.
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.
