Arnett Named next MSU Coach - 4 Year Deal to be signed.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

No one is going to want to hear this:

We just made a typical MSU move. We did the nice thing. We chose to protect an unhired AD which gives me a ton of confidence in that search. We made a move to protect recruiting with a class that is maybe 30th right now?

It may work out but we're going to have at best an inexperienced head coach who will have growing pains. Which is NOT what we need. Remember Dan vs LSU 2009? LOL.

And we only have one open spot and that almost HAS TO go to an experienced OC. We can't bring in a DC because we don't have room. So it's going to be someone on staff in that role who is also inexperienced. And if we bring in another outside DC then we only have four offensive coaches on the whole staff- and one would have to be calling plays. Which again would be someone who has never called plays before.

I hope we go like 9-3 or better this year because I have a feeling that there is a good chance we're going to be looking again in about three years. Hopefully under much better circumstances.

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I hope Coach Arnett would put in a hearty effort to bring in Graham Harrell as OC. From what I can tell reading / listening to all of the reminiscing and stories about CML, Harrell was mentioned several times as being one of CML's most astute students not only in football but in life in general. He eventually will be a successful HC.

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Originally Posted by Offshore Dawg

With post like this, shouldn't you change your screen name to ( sand-in-the-junk )

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Sand in Virginia... If you smell what I'm stepping in

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Originally Posted by Offshore Dawg

With post like this, shouldn't you change your screen name to ( sand-in-the-junk )

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I'm pragmatic to a fault.

We weren't getting a coach worth his salt that would

1 keep our team in tact. Either transfers out due to scheme or loss of familiarity.

2 is established as a good recruiter in the area

3 kept the foundation that has been set.

ZA is going to give 100% every single second. Players love him. He's a good recruiter. He just outschemed the poster child of coach fanboy love in Kiffin.

Most of the best Air Raid guys that we'd look at are better suited for OC and that is still an option.

Downside is

he lacks experience

Offensive coaches are more sought after because it's hard to change offensive scheme vs defensive

Considering pros and cons, I'm glad we kept ZA before he was poached by LSU or bama. Yes it might fail spectacularly, but the Man is a leader, tough, players love him and gives you more than you have in the tank.

ETA: My best attribute was a LB carrying my team to the byrboun bowl and I've been drinking vodka. Don't blame me if it goes sideways :)

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

No one is going to want to hear this:

We just made a typical MSU move. We did the nice thing. We chose to protect an unhired AD which gives me a ton of confidence in that search. We made a move to protect recruiting with a class that is maybe 30th right now?

It may work out but we're going to have at best an inexperienced head coach who will have growing pains. Which is NOT what we need. Remember Dan vs LSU 2009? LOL.

And we only have one open spot and that almost HAS TO go to an experienced OC. We can't bring in a DC because we don't have room. So it's going to be someone on staff in that role who is also inexperienced. And if we bring in another outside DC then we only have four offensive coaches on the whole staff- and one would have to be calling plays. Which again would be someone who has never called plays before.

I hope we go like 9-3 or better this year because I have a feeling that there is a good chance we're going to be looking again in about three years. Hopefully under much better circumstances.

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I was with you up until the coaching numbers. There?s no chance we keep 2 WR coaches if Arnett decides he wants a DC. There are many many teams who have a HC, OC, and DC, this is not a unique problem we?re facing. Someone will get moved off field if it needs to happen

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

Bob Tyler was ahead of the game. He had our NIL rolling in the 70s

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Yeah free clothes.

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Originally Posted by sandjunky

Don?t drink on weekdays.

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Now I know there is sand in Virginia ;)

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

It's a major difference. Arnett has never made a decision to go for it on fourth down or not. He has the final say in everything. It can be very distracting to do that and run a defense. Most coaches honestly can't do both.

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This is my only concern. He's such a great DC. Someone mentioned Rocky Long as a DC. That sounds like an awesome idea to me. They are on the same page, allows ZA to handle decisions and not question D calls and serves as a mentor if needed.

Rocky is 72 and working his retirement at his Alma mater at New Mexico. Would be great but I don't see him leaving his home at this age.

I agree Todd. I like arnett. Great guy and great DC. He may be a great head coach. But it's a huge gamble in a mean ass league. Bracky and keenum rolled their dice fast.

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Originally Posted by trojandawg

I agree Todd. I like arnett. Great guy and great DC. He may be a great head coach. But it's a huge gamble in a mean ass league. Bracky and keenum rolled their dice fast.

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Huge gamble with anyone in this league. I would argue it's a bigger gamble to spend good money on a HC that has never coached in this conference. They might be rolling the dice Leach handed them.

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Originally Posted by Cowbell

Huge gamble with anyone in this league. I would argue it's a bigger gamble to spend good money on a HC that has never coached in this conference.

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Depends on if it's a P5 conference like Leach or if it's a G5 conference.

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Originally Posted by Really Clark?

Rocky is 72 and working his retirement at his Alma mater at New Mexico. Would be great but I don't see him leaving his home at this age.

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Didn't realize he was that old

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Originally Posted by trojandawg

I agree Todd. I like arnett. Great guy and great DC. He may be a great head coach. But it's a huge gamble in a mean ass league. Bracky and keenum rolled their dice fast.

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Most good dice rollers roll the dice relatively fast, after all it's luck of the roll. No different here, there wasn't a proven commodity out there to go get.

If we've got to go with a coordinator, why not the one that is most familiar with our recruiting footprint, current team, staff, academic and athletic personnel etc.?

I do think that at a school like state we need an offensive minded HC as we seem to roll good defenses out under every head coach we hire. So that concerns me a bit having staff turnover on the offensive side of the ball every few years if the offense is clicking will be a much bigger problem than having defensive staff turnover like we had under mullen. But that being said, arnett seems like a winner and he's definitely going to give the job everything he's got. At the end of the day that's all you can ask for as the smallest budgeted team in the conference save maybe vandy. Saves us some money as well to use somewhere else In the program.

If you had to go pay an experienced p5 hc with a decent resume to come here you're looking at a minimum of 7-8 mil now and probably more for the same crap shoot in the SEC that we are getting now at a decent price. How many good head coaches from P5 or non that have been hired into this league, chewed up and spit out quick?

A question for those saying Zach has no HC experience. How many years of HC experience did Dan have?

Give him a shot. Croom had no OC or DC experience. Mullen was a OC and Moorehead was a OC. If things unraveled in the next two season, we could move on. I really don't think it's a big gamble. Our schedule is not as tough with 8 home games.

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Originally Posted by Op4isabitch

A question for those saying Zach has no HC experience. How many years of HC experience did Dan have?

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It's not the lack of HC experience even thought that's what people keep pointing to. He just hasn't had as many years doing as many things.

I'm perfectly happy with Arnett as the coach. I thought he would be competitive in a national search. I am more concerned about the process. Either Keenum panicked and short circuited the process, or he has enough insight into things fans don't to know that at the end of the day, none of the likely potential candidates were going to be able to show anything in an interview that would trump what we have seen in person with Arnett.

If it was the latter, going through the process would be all harm for not much gain. Still would have been value to the process to confirm what you think you know, but would have been at the expense of continued uncertainty while people are trying to poach our players and recruits.

If it was the former, it may still work out, but it was a stupid move. I'd like to think it was the latter but really don't know. Don't have enough of an opinion of Keenum to think it was likely he panicked or likely he made a reasoned decision based on good info.

With national signing day and possible portal transfers State couldn't wait for a national search. JoMo was fired in January. Was that a dead period?

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

It's not the lack of HC experience even thought that's what people keep pointing to. He just hasn't had as many years doing as many things.

I'm perfectly happy with Arnett as the coach. I thought he would be competitive in a national search. I am more concerned about the process. Either Keenum panicked and short circuited the process, or he has enough insight into things fans don't to know that at the end of the day, none of the likely potential candidates were going to be able to show anything in an interview that would trump what we have seen in person with Arnett.

If it was the latter, going through the process would be all harm for not much gain. Still would have been value to the process to confirm what you think you know, but would have been at the expense of continued uncertainty while people are trying to poach our players and recruits.

If it was the former, it may still work out, but it was a stupid move. I'd like to think it was the latter but really don't know. Don't have enough of an opinion of Keenum to think it was likely he panicked or likely he made a reasoned decision based on good info.

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Blowing up the program at this juncture was not an option. Losing most of our recruits and a sizable portion of the roster to the portal would have been a severe blow to the next coach. Arnett knows this program. He is respected among the staff. He knows the recruiting landscape very well. And most importantly Leach really, really liked him a lot. He turned to Zach often for coaching decisions.

I would not be surprised in a couple of years everybody's all on board and demanding we pay the man an outrageous salary because he's proven to be a damn good head coach and bigger programs are knocking on his door.

We already had this plan in place. Zach was going to be a HC sooner rather than later and very very likely taken over here. Rocky and Leach both groomed him and both very thought he would be good and a good fit. I mentioned the other day it is the single biggest factor determining your next coach. It has to fit and Zach fits and is invested in the Mississippi State community. We all know coaching hires are crap shoots but honestly sitting P5 coordinators have a better track record of success than G5 HC's. I'm 100% on board and actually believe he will do an outstanding job running the program. He is an impressive guy.

I don't have a crystal ball to see the future, but Arnett's intensity leads me to believe he will be a Saban like in how he instills a culture in the program. We will succeed or fail based on his attention to details throughout his tenure.

Arnett..... bust the ever loving ass for the next two seasons. How you attack these next two years will define you as a coach for your entire career.
Instill the correct foundation NOW. This is your team now. Not Mike Leach's. You have been painted into a corner, now is the time to just take off your shoes and walk across the floor. Damn to everything else. Build your team. Leach left you compacted subgrade, now pour some footings and let's get some walls going up.

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Originally Posted by TrapGame

Blowing up the program at this juncture was not an option. Losing most of our recruits and a sizable portion of the roster to the portal would have been a severe blow to the next coach. Arnett knows this program. He is respected among the staff. He knows the recruiting landscape very well. And most importantly Leach really, really liked him a lot. He turned to Zach often for coaching decisions.

I would not be surprised in a couple of years everybody's all on board and demanding we pay the man an outrageous salary because he's proven to be a damn good head coach and bigger programs are knocking on his door.

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I would not either but that doesn't change whether the decision making process was good or not. There will rarely be a time a coaching change doesn't negatively impact a recruiting class. It's practically guaranteed now with the early signing period. That doesn't mean you always promote from within.

And again, I am good with Arnett and thought he would be a top candidate if not the guy at the end of the day. I am just questioning whether the decision was well reasoned or not.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

I would not either but that doesn't change whether the decision making process was good or not. There will rarely be a time a coaching change doesn't negatively impact a recruiting class. It's practically guaranteed now with the early signing period. That doesn't mean you always promote from within.

And again, I am good with Arnett and thought he would be a top candidate if not the guy at the end of the day. I am just questioning whether the decision was well reasoned or not.

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Everyone talks about the Leach coaching tree. I would take Leach word when he and Keenum had a conversation after Auburn if it goes bad who should we target.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

I would not either but that doesn't change whether the decision making process was good or not. There will rarely be a time a coaching change doesn't negatively impact a recruiting class. It's practically guaranteed now with the early signing period. That doesn't mean you always promote from within.

And again, I am good with Arnett and thought he would be a top candidate if not the guy at the end of the day. I am just questioning whether the decision was well reasoned or not.

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If you are good with Arnett why are you questioning the decision?

Again, some of y'all can't grasp the concept that this was the best option on the table. That was the decision to keep this current program together. It was the right decision.

Per Twitter---- 3 million a year

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Originally Posted by Desoto1967

Per Twitter---- 3 million a year

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Perfect!!!

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Originally Posted by Really Clark?

We already had this plan in place. Zach was going to be a HC sooner rather than later and very very likely taken over here. Rocky and Leach both groomed him and both very thought he would be good and a good fit. I mentioned the other day it is the single biggest factor determining your next coach. It has to fit and Zach fits and is invested in the Mississippi State community. We all know coaching hires are crap shoots but honestly sitting P5 coordinators have a better track record of success than G5 HC's. I'm 100% on board and actually believe he will do an outstanding job running the program. He is an impressive guy.

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I See it the same way. Leach knew what he had in Zach and knew the guys potential as a HC. I would say Leachs track record for recognizing head coaching potential is way better than any of ours and he was grooming Zach to become a HC it just came a little earlier than expected due to this tragic occurrence.

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Originally Posted by Desoto1967

Per Twitter---- 3 million a year

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Now spend the money we're saving on a great oc!

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Originally Posted by Commercecomet24

I See it the same way. Leach knew what he had in Zach and knew the guys potential as a HC. I would say Leachs track record for recognizing head coaching potential is way better than any of ours and he was grooming Zach to become a HC it just came a little earlier than expected due to this tragic occurrence.

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So this is my concern for SS as OC. Why was he not being groomed, put as OC.
Was it because he didn't want to be HC and was planning on being OC for Arnett and time table for moved up?

Someone mentioned Arnett has never had to make a decision to go for it on fourth down. Well honestly I'd rather him make the decision. He's going to see just like everyone else how the offense is doing momentum wise, you know he will run it by the OC or sign off of it for them but most importantly he's going to know how our defense is holding up (worn out, getting beat mentally vs starters ready to go) in case we don't convert it.

Arnett has energy which I know as all love. If you have heard him speak you know it's like that for him 24/7 .
This guy is going to give everything he has.

We just have to get this OC/qb coach hire right. We can't rush that

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Originally Posted by Commercecomet24

Now spend the money we're saving on a great oc!

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I would dare see today we have the best ROI in America if that's what we are spending

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Originally Posted by Desoto1967

Per Twitter---- 3 million a year

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Nice work by Dr. Keenum and his group to keep everything reasonable and very manageable. Especially in the future should the need arise. Fair to the coach and the university.

Let's hope after next season he could expect to get Lane money

Thank goodness Cohen was gone during this situation. He would have screwed this up somehow.

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Originally Posted by WinningIsRelentless

Everyone talks about the Leach coaching tree. I would take Leach word when he and Keenum had a conversation after Auburn if it goes bad who should we target.

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Never heard about that particular conversation. What are you referring to as going bad ? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

Give him a shot. Croom had no OC or DC .

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That is false - he was OC for lions (like 4-5seasons) then let go and picked by Packers to be RB coach for a few prior to State calling


No telling how good that Lions offense could have been with an innovative coach - Barry Sanders essentially wasted in his prime

Two coaching legends gave Zach Arnett their blessing. I trust that. Rocky Long pointed to Arnett when he turned down the job. Leach went and poached Arnett from Syracuse even though he had already agreed to take their spot. That?s says tons.
Long and Leach have seen tons of coaches but both of them believe(d) in Arnett. He comes here and proves them right for the last three years. He coaches in the best conference in CFB and more than holds his own.

On top of that he knows the players, recruits, potential transfers, the geography, the culture, etc. He is the best guy for this circumstance. I think this is a home run hire and will be shocked if we don?t continue to do well. He may even upgrade in places where we felt Leach wasn?t as effective and intense enough.

He should know which offensive minds give him the most trouble. He should be able to break down tape quickly on a play caller and make a good decision on who should lead the offense. I?m confident in Coach Arnett?s ability to do it.

These are sad but exciting times to be a Bulldog!

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Originally Posted by Reason2succeed

Two coaching legends gave Zach Arnett their blessing. I trust that. Rocky Long pointed to Arnett when he turned down the job. Leach went and poached Arnett from Syracuse even though he had already agreed to take their spot. That?s says tons.
Long and Leach have seen tons of coaches but both of them believe(d) in Arnett. He comes here and proves them right for the last three years. He coaches in the best conference in CFB and more than holds his own.

On top of that he knows the players, recruits, potential transfers, the geography, the culture, etc. He is the best guy for this circumstance. I think this is a home run hire and will be shocked if we don?t continue to do well. He may even upgrade in places where we felt Leach wasn?t as effective and intense enough.

He should know which offensive minds give him the most trouble. He should be able to break down tape quickly on a play caller and make a good decision on who should lead the offense. I?m confident in Coach Arnett?s ability to do it.

These are sad but exciting times to be a Bulldog!

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THIS! my thoughts as well

Agreed. Sad times, but the decision on Arnett was well founded.

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Originally Posted by TrapGame

If you are good with Arnett why are you questioning the decision?

Again, some of y'all can't grasp the concept that this was the best option on the table. That was the decision to keep this current program together. It was the right decision.

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You can be good with Arnett and still have reservations. It is possible to have opinions that vary depending on the situation.

I’m fine with Arnett with an experience OC. I’m not so fine with Arnett with an internal OC hire. Pretty simple.

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Originally Posted by DownwardDawg

Thank goodness Cohen was gone during this situation. He would have screwed this up somehow.

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Cohen being the smartest guy in the room probably hires Tony Hughes or Spurrier Jr.

It was sure a blessing to have Dr Keenum make the selection.