Mississippi State athletics director Zac Selmon made the difficult decision last week to relieve Zach Arnett of his duties as head football coach. It’s abnormal for a head coach to not even make it through his first year with a program, but Arnett’s situation was one of the more unique ones we’ve seen in college football.
Arnett was thrust into the Bulldogs’ head coaching position a week before signing day last December after the legendary Mike Leach passed away. The Mississippi State administration was already in a difficult spot with John Cohen having left to take athletics director opening at Auburn University a month earlier, and they had to move fast in order to retain its roster and sign its recruiting class, so promoting Arnett seemed like an easy choice.
Arnett’s tenure at Mississippi State got off to a strong start with a victory of the University of Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl in January, but the 2023 campaign didn’t go as planned for Arnett. Taking over a team that finished the 2022 season 9-4, Arnett managed to lead the Bulldogs to just a 4-6 record before being let go ten games into the season.
"As part of my thorough and continued evaluation, I have determined that a change in leadership is necessary to move our football program forward and position it for the highest level of success. "I have the utmost respect for Zach Arnett and am incredibly appreciative of the effort he put forth in leading our football program. However, the progress and on-field results have not been of the standard required for Mississippi State to achieve the level of success we need and expect,” Selmon said via press release. "Zach took on an unprecedented and challenging situation last December. He provided the football program much needed leadership and stability during a tragic time.”
There are multiple factors that led to Arnett sinking the ship that Leach once captained, but what stands out the most is ditching “The Pirate’s” famed Air Raid offense for a more pro-style approach under offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay.
Arnett had every right to change the offense. He was given the keys to the Mississippi State program, but making such a drastic change for a group of players that had learned and grown in Leach’s Air Raid over the previous three seasons seems to have been the wrong decision in hindsight.
During Leach’s final season with the Bulldogs in 2022, Mississippi State put up 31.6 points per game which was their best offensive year since the Dan Mullen era, but that number dropped to 21.4 points in the ten games Arnett coached this season. Senior quarterback Will Rogers, who had run the Air Raid offense since his days at Brandon High School outside of Jackson, saw a big downtick in his numbers.
Rogers had thrown for over 8,000 yards with 71 touchdowns over the previous two seasons, and he hasn’t even come close to that pace this season. A shoulder injury that knocked him out for a month didn’t help his counting stats, but his completion percentage dropped from 68.0% last year to 59.1% this year.
Now Selmon must turn his attention to hiring the best candidate he can find to run the Bulldog program, and he must act quick. Mississippi State’s players are able to enter the NCAA transfer portal early due to the coaching change, and a few have done so already. Once the regular season ends this upcoming weekend, it will be ideal for Selmon to have his guy in place so he can hit the ground running on the recruiting trail and meet with all of the players on the current roster.
“Clearly we want to be as fast as we can. We also want to make sure we are thorough and diligent, understanding there is a lot of football left to play in this season. We don’t want to be jumping out there if it is not the right fit and not the right person for Mississippi State,” Selmon said in his press conference last week. “We also understand what’s upcoming. We understand what happens with the transfer portal. We understand the recruiting calendar. We understand finals’ schedule. At the core we will make sure we hire the best person for Mississippi State.”
This coaching search will be the first that Selmon will be conducting since being hired as Mississippi State’s athletics director in January, but the 37-year-old has plenty of experience in this business after 14 years in the business. He’s worked in two of collegiate athletics’ most powerful institutions in the University of Oklahoma and the University of North Carolina and was the right-hand man to A.D. Joe Castiglione during his time at OU.
Selmon’s experience, despite it not being in the lead role, has prepared him to make this hire, and its one he’ll need to nail with Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC and more expansion potentially to come. As a former college football player under Jim Grobe at Wake Forest, Selmon knows what winning looks like, and it's those winning qualities that he’s looking for in a head coach.
"I don't pull from my playing experience. You do pull from winning qualities. And I think winning translates,” Selmon said. “I think you can see what winning looks like. I played for a winning coach at Wake Forest. It's how can you develop talent and lead it forward. There's more to the game. We're nestled in the heart of campus for a reason. It's higher education, it's how you grow and be a better man.”
That’s what Selmon is looking for in a head coach. A proven winner.
He’s not locked into someone who has a focus on either the offensive or defensive side of the football. He’s not worried about someone who has years of experience as a head coach or none at all. He just wants someone who epitomizes the winning qualities that he’s searching for from a schematic, culture building and a recruiting standpoint.
“You always go into a search open-minded. I don't want to say it's got to be an offensive person or a defensive person, or if it has to be a sitting head coach. What you do look for are winning qualities. Somebody who has winning traits. Somebody who knows what winning looks like at the highest level, both schematically and programmatically,” Selmon said. “You know when you have winning DNA. You want someone who can build culture. You want someone from a schematic standpoint that knows the game. In this league, you're competing against the tip of the spear. That excites me, that excites everybody. Somebody that can recruit. And recruit in a changing landscape. And someone who knows how to develop talent. We recruit you men for life. And we have a clear pathway to the National Football League. We don't shy away from that.”
Selmon also understands that giving the new coach the proper resources will be important to sustain success on the field. One of Selmon’s top priorities has been improving Mississippi State’s bankroll on the name, image and likeness front.
Selmon has built a strong relationship with Charlie Winfield, the founder of the Bulldog Initiative, and he’s made the Bulldog Initiative the official NIL Collective of Mississippi State. Pete Nakos of On3 Sports reported that Selmon and Winfield’s efforts have pushed Mississippi State to upwards of $5 million in NIL which is near the middle of the pack in the SEC. That number is expected to skyrocket in the coming weeks, as from now until December 1, 2023, each donation will be matched until they reach $1 million.
“Over the last handful of months, that's been a key priority for us. We've put a lot of energy and thought into the Bulldog Initiative, with Charlie Winfield and his efforts,” Selmon said. “We need everyone to join the Bulldog Initiative. That will be a subject of conversation. I feel we've made a lot of progress there. But we need to continue to have people join. You can't win games by yourself. We have a competitive, hungry fan base. We need them to join what we're doing here. It's a special time to be a Mississippi State Bulldog.”
There has been lots of talk about who could be the new face of the Bulldog program with new candidates emerging on the daily, but Selmon wants to keep his first coaching search as tight-lipped as he can.
“Like all high-profile coaching searches there’s going to be plenty of rumors out there on who our candidates are. There will be a ton of interest in this position. I advise you not to make assumptions or believe anything unless you here it from me,” Selmon said. “During this process we will be thorough, we will be diligent, and we will be efficient. The next time I speak publicly on this will be when we introduce our next head football coach.”
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