Switchable player models

hello! I'm trying to make a mod that offers the ability for the player to become a zombie upon death. The problem is, I can't figure out how to set up a way to switch the player's model at all, let alone as part of an event. I've seen suggestions about custom armor and teleporting a mob on the player, but that seems kind of like a ghetto solution. I was wondering if there's any way to do this, even if just through the "Custom Code Snippet" block.