Zach Arnett was fired as Mississippi State’s coach Monday before he could even complete one season on the job. The Bulldogs promoted then-defensive coordinator Arnett after the sudden passing of coach Mike Leach last December.
The way Mississippi State structured Arnett’s deal made it feel like an extended interim arrangement. Mississippi State owes Arnett $4.5 million over the next three years, but the deal includes offset language. That means if Arnett gets another job, his new salary will be subtracted from the amount Mississippi State owes. And Arnett is expected to be quite in demand as a defensive coordinator.
Does Mullen want to get back into coaching? We don’t know. We do know he’s very good on television. We also know he knows how to win at Mississippi State. He went 69-46 in nine seasons there from 2009-17. He won eight or more games in five of those seasons. That got him the job at Florida, where he had three successful seasons before everything crashed down in 2021.
But Mullen’s end at Florida doesn’t disqualify him for this job. Mississippi State’s coach isn’t expected to beat Georgia and Alabama for recruits. So the main reason Mullen was fired in Gainesville isn’t an issue in Starkville. Maybe he’s happy in television, but Selmon has to at least ask if a return might be possible.But who will Mississippi State hire? The man doing the hiring is first-year athletic director Zac Selmon, a longtime Oklahoma lieutenant who took over in Starkville in January. The Bulldogs have shown in the past decade that they can be an above-average SEC program, but given that they’ll annually be competing in a divisionless SEC against Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Auburn and Texas A&M, above-average might be the ceiling. But there are plenty of coaches willing to try to break that ceiling.
Manny Diaz, Penn State defensive coordinator
Lance Leipold, Kansas head coach
Jon Sumrall, Troy head coach
Willie Fritz, Tulane head coach
Jamey Chadwell, Liberty head coach
Rhett Lashlee, SMU head coach
Glenn Schumann, Georgia defensive coordinator
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