“Purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State.”
These were the words of Curt Cignetti the day after he got hired to coach IU football. Not only would an extremely bold coach say this, but especially a coach who was just hired by the second-most-losing program in the NCAA: The Indiana Hoosiers.
So, how did the Pennsylvania native Curt Cignetti turn into one of the best coaches in NCAA football today?
In 1983, he took a graduate assistant job with the University of Pittsburgh. He worked with the tight ends and also got a job with the Quarterbacks. Cignetti left his hometown team, Pittsburgh, in 1999.
From 1985 to 1992, Cignetti bounced around as the Quarterbacks coach he was at Davidson, Rice, and Temple.
After 1992, Cignetti went back to his hometown to be the recruiting coordinator and Quarterback coach until 2000, then he went to North Carolina State, where he was in charge of recruiting.: He also coached the quarterbacks and the tight ends.
In 2007, Cignetti got the best assistant coaching job in the country, at Alabama, under the leadership of Nick Saban, one of the greatest head football coaches of all time. At Alabama, he was the wide receiver coach and the recruiting coordinator; in 2009,; they won the national championship with the players he had recruited.
In 2010, Cignetti made the biggest decision of his life as he left the University of Alabama. Lots of people questioned his move, saying that it was a downgrade. As one of the top assistant coaches in the country just took a head coaching position at the Division II level at IUP.
Cignetti, in his first head coaching position at IUP, had a 53-17 record. He was at IUP for six seasons before getting a head coaching position at division one Elon University. When he was hired, they were coming off a 2-9 season when Cignetti changed the program in one year, going 8-4 the first year under Cignetti.
From 2019 to 2023, Cignetti was at James Madison, where he had to deal with the program going from FCS to FBS. During his time at James Madison, he had a 52-9 record, multiple conference titles, and playoff appearances.
On November 30, 2023, the Indiana Hoosiers made the phone call to Coach Cignetti, where he took the head coaching position. Indiana finished last in the BIG 10 and had a 3-9 record the last year before Cignetti changed the program. Cignetti had strong words in his press conference, saying, “Google Me I win.”
Cignetti brought in 30 transfers to IU his first year in the program and completely changed the program. Indiana had an 11-2 record and went to the college football playoffs for the first time in program history.
In the second year of the Cignetti era, Indiana landed a Highly Ranked Quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, in the transfer portal. Cignetti continued his success from year one as fans watched Indiana beat Miami in the national championship.
The fans sang “Hurts So Good” the song by John Mellanchamp, who is a huge Indiana football fan.
Making Indiana the first University to have a perfect season in basketball and football.
