Zach Arnett

Zachary Arnett (born September 10th, 1986) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State. He played linebacker from 2005-2008 at New Mexico and began his coaching career in 2011.

Arnett attended La Cueva High School and was a two-sport athlete infootball 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.

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. 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.

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. He will inherit a defense that ranked 73rd in total defense and is losing seven starters.