Zach Arnett, former Mississippi State coach, joins Florida State staff as analyst

Former Mississippi State coach Zach Arnett joined the Florida State coaching staff as an analyst, according to 247Sports. Last season, Arnett served as an analyst under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.

Arnett took over at Mississippi State following Mike Leach's death in December of 2022. Arnett, the Bulldogs' former defensive coordinator, led the team to a ReliaQuest Bowl win over Illinois before taking over as the full-time coach in 2023. Just 10 games into that season, Mississippi State fired Arnett after leading the Bulldogs to a 4-6 record.

In 2024, Arnett worked as an analyst at Ole Miss, and he was initially hired as the defensive coordinator on Dan Mullen's staff at UNLV. However, he resigned from that role in April due to personal reasons.

Arnett, a former linebacker at New Mexico, worked his way up the coaching ranks on the defensive side of the ball. He began as a graduate assistant at San Diego State before becoming the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator. Arnett joined Mississippi State in 2020, when Leach hired him as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

At Florida State, Arnett will work under a familiar face in defensive coordinator Tony White. When Arnett was playing linebacker for New Mexico in 2008, White was his position coach.

Arnett will lend his defensive expertise to a Florida State team that allowed 28.0 points per game last season. That ranked 10th in the ACC and 87th nationally.