Will Zach Arnett coach Mississippi State defense vs Wake Forest in bowl?
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STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football thought its season was over after the Egg Bowl, so it went ahead and started making coaching changes for the 2026 season.
In fact, several new assistant coaches have already been hired, headlined by defensive coordinator Zach Arnett, the former MSU coordinator and coach in 2023. He’s replacing the fired Coleman Hutzler.
But the Bulldogs (5-7) were a surprise selection for a bowl game and will play Wake Forest (8-4) in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Jan. 2 (7 p.m. CT, ESPN) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Does that mean Arnett will be the defensive coordinator for the bowl game?
“He won’t coach a position and won’t be involved in the game plan part of it,” coach Jeff Lebby said on Dec. 10. “He’ll be on the grass with us everyday while we’re here.”
Lebby said he is still working through who will be calling plays on defense against Wake Forest.
“The thing that I do love is you have Matt Barnes, who’s called a bunch of defense and been a coordinator,” Lebby said. “You’ve got Coach (Mike MacIntyre) who’s called a bunch of defense and been a coordinator. Paul Rhoads, same thing. We’ve done a great job of going and putting the plan together. As we get closer to game day, we’ll talk a little more about game day responsibilities.”
Arnett was MSU’s defensive coordinator from 2020-22 under coach Mike Leach. He was promoted to head coach for the 2023 season after Leach died, but was fired 10 games into the season.
Arnett was an analyst at Ole Miss in 2024, and then was hired as UNLV’s defensive coordinator under former MSU coach Dan Mullen. However, he resigned on April 7 for “personal reasons” and was hired as an analyst at Florida State three months later.
Lebby said Arnett has already arrived in Starkville and was at the Dec. 10 bowl practice.
“For Zach, it’s being able to go out and watch these guys practice every day,” Lebby said. “The evaluation of our current roster is a huge advantage for us.
“Him having the ability to be in the building and know exactly what holes we have from a roster standpoint instead of just talking about it and having to watch the game tape, Zach gets to be on the grass with us. He was out there today right in the middle of the scout team being able to get those guys ready to roll. He’s not incredibly involved from a game-plan standpoint just because it didn’t feel like that was fair to the kids to be able to throw all those changes on them.”
Mississippi State hires 3 other assistant coaches
Arnett was hired on Dec. 6. Since then, three other assistants have been hired: Kevie Thompson as assistant secondary coach, Matt Brock as linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator and Bush Hamdan as associate head coach for offense.
Brock was on the Mississippi State staff from 2020-23, first as the special teams coordinator and a linebackers coach, then as defensive coordinator under Arnett. He spent the last two seasons as UConn’s defensive coordinator.
Hamdan spent the last two seasons as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator.
Thompson is a former Southern Miss player with coaching experience at multiple Mississippi high schools and junior colleges. He was a defensive quality control coach at Oklahoma State this season.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Zach Arnett won’t coach Mississippi State defense was Wake Forest
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