Mississippi State Fires Head Football Coach Zach Arnett
After Just One Season at the Helm
By Seth Emerson, David Ubben, and Chris Vannini
Mississippi State University announced Monday that it had fired head football coach Zach Arnett after just one season. The decision comes after the Bulldogs finished the 2022 season with a 3-9 record, including a 1-7 mark in Southeastern Conference play.
Arnett was hired in December 2021 to replace Mike Leach, who left to take the head coaching job at Texas Tech. Arnett, a former defensive coordinator at Purdue, had no prior head coaching experience at the FBS level.
The Bulldogs struggled mightily in Arnett's first season, particularly on offense. Mississippi State averaged just 18.5 points per game, which ranked 127th out of 131 FBS teams. The offense also turned the ball over 26 times, which was tied for the most in the country.
Arnett's firing is the latest in a string of coaching changes in the SEC. Since the end of the 2022 season, four other SEC schools have fired their head coaches: Auburn, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
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