Zachary Arnett (born September 10, 1986) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is a defensive analyst at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. He served as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

in 2023 and as the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

at Mississippi State from 2020 to 2022. He also briefly served as the

at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

(UNLV) from December 2024 until his resignation in April 2025. Arnett played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

from 2005 to 2008. Prior to his tenure at Mississippi State, he held various assistant coaching positions at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

from 2011 to 2019.

Playing career

Arnett attended

La Cueva High School La Cueva High School is a public high school located in northeast Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, within the Albuquerque Public Schools District. Its mascot is the Bears. The La Cueva feeder schools include Desert Ridge, Madison, and E ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and was a two-sport athlete in football and baseball. He originally accepted an offer to play for the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999 ...

baseball team, but he earned a scholarship to the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

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.

Coaching career

San Diego State

After being away from football for two years, he became a graduate assistant at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

under his New Mexico head coach

Rocky Long Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American college football coach and former player currently working as a defensive analyst at Fort Lewis Skyhawks#Football, Fort Lewis College. He was previously the defensive coordinator at S ...

. 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.

Mississippi State

On January 11, 2020, Arnett was named the new defensive coordinator at

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

. However, the stint with Syracuse was short-lived, as he was hired as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach by

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

on January 22, 2020. Arnett was named interim head coach at Mississippi State after Mike Leach was hospitalized on December 11, 2022. After Leach's death, Mississippi State removed the interim tag from Arnett's title and named him the 35th full-time head coach in school history on December 15, 2022. Mississippi State fired Arnett on November 13, 2023, with two games left in the regular season.

Ole Miss

In 2024, Arnett joined the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

(Ole Miss) as an analyst under head coach

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is the head coach at Ole Miss Rebels football, Ole Miss. Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at USC Trojans football, USC from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the National Foo ...

UNLV

On December 30, 2024, Arnett was hired as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the

(UNLV) under head coach

Dan Mullen Daniel Mullenhttps://media.ledger-enquirer.com/static/SEC-Coaching-Contracts/Mississippi-State/Dan-Mullen-2016.pdf (born April 27, 1972) is an American college football coach, who is currently the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Veg ...

. However, he resigned for personal reasons on April 7, 2025.

Personal life

Arnett is married with two children.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

UNLV Rebels bio

Mississippi State Bulldogs bio

San Diego State Aztecs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnett, Zach 1986 births Living people American football linebackers Coaches of American football from New Mexico La Cueva High School alumni Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches New Mexico Lobos football players Ole Miss Rebels football coaches People from Albuquerque, New Mexico Players of American football from Albuquerque, New Mexico San Diego State Aztecs football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches