Cignetti Previews 2024 Season On Inside Indiana Football Radio Show

Indiana’s new football coach Curt Cignetti made his first appearance on Thursday’s edition of Inside Indiana Football with Don Fischer.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti looks on during fall practice. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With the 2024 Indiana football season kicking off on Saturday, it was time to bring back the Inside Indiana Football radio show on Thursday night at Hoosier Hank’s restaurant.

Indiana’s new coach Curt Cignetti met with longtime play-by-play announcer Don Fischer to preview the season. His first appearance on the show was cut short because Indiana moved practice to Thursday night due to the heat, so athletic director Scott Dolson filled in for the remainder. We’ll include Dolson's comments in a separate article.

The show was packed with insight on Cignetti’s first months on the job, his coaching philosophies, the culture he wants to establish at Indiana and his thoughts on the Hoosiers’ first opponent, Florida International. 

Here are the highlights.

On this week’s adjusted practice schedule:

• Cignetti said Indiana practiced at night every day this week due to the mid-90s temperatures. They’ve been getting off the field around 9:30 p.m.
• He considers Thursday an important practice because the whole game plan is in by now. He called it a dress rehearsal for the game. Indiana will practice red area, goal line, two-point plays and two-minute drills. 
• “I’ll know a lot more about where we’re at walking off the field this practice tonight,” Cignetti said.

On his process of building the 2024 roster this offseason:

• Indiana added 13 transfers from James Madison, Cignetti’s previous stop, which had a 11-2 overall record last season. “I guess they felt good about the program,” Cignetti said of the players who followed him to Indiana.
• Indiana added 30 transfers in total. Cignetti said he doesn’t promise a starting role to anyone, but he promises an opportunity to earn it. 
• Indiana’s transfer portal class is ranked No. 28 nationally and No. 7 in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports. Cignetti adding that much talent was aided by his history of success, past development of quarterbacks and wide receivers, past success with defense, contacts, and available playing time due to so many graduating seniors and outgoing transfers. 
• “We brought a lot of good transfers in here,” Cignetti said.
• “Do I love where we’re at at every position on our football team right now? No, I don’t. Are there some positions we’re thin? Yeah, there are. Staying healthy is always important, but got a lot of new guys I think can make an impact on this football team that will make an impact on this football team. They think the right way, they practice the right way, and I’m excited to watch them play,” Cignetti said.
• “I think we’ve come a long way in terms of our mental toughness,” Cignetti said.

On his vision for Indiana football:

• Cignetti wants Indiana to play fast, physical, relentless, smart, disciplined and poised.
• He mentioned that his previous teams at James Madison were typically the least penalized team in the conference and had the best turnover ratio. He wants that to continue at Indiana.
• Cignetti demands consistent, high-level performance at practice. “You can’t be horseshit during practice and expect to play on Saturday. And we have a guy or two who think they can, and they don’t. They won’t,” Cignetti said.
• “It’s all about habits. How you do something is how you do everything. You can’t turn it off and on. Life ain’t like that. It’s choices and decisions. Freedom of choice but not freedom of consequence. First you form your habits, and your habits form you. The habit has to be excellence, striving for excellence all the time. When you have a bunch of guys that think that way, then you’re going to have a good thing,” Cignetti said.
• Cignetti said Indiana can’t be affected by the circumstances of the game, whether it’s going well or poorly. He said a team can’t feel good and let up when winning. “Gotta keep the foot on the jugular,” he said. “You get down a couple scores, you can’t have anxiety and frustration. You gotta chip away, keep your focus, resilience and belief.”
• “We’re going to find out if we’re that rubber ball that you drop on the ground and it bounces back in your hand or that glass ball that you drop and shatters into a million pieces. I think we’re more like the rubber ball, but we gotta prove it on the field,” Cignetti said.

On Saturday’s game against Florida International:

• “Opening game, you never know what to expect. They got a lot of new faces too. You catch those teams at full strength when they’re not worn down, they’re dangerous” Cignetti said.
• “We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves Saturday. A lot,” Cignetti said. “...I’m anxious to see us and how we play on Saturday.”
• “The quarterback can run, can throw. It all starts with him, and we gotta keep him in the pocket and our defensive line needs to win up front and we need to make it a long day for him,” Cignetti said.
• “Their [running] backs are good, and the receivers, it’s a deep unit. They’re skilled on offense. Offensive line, they’re trying to rebuild that,” Cignetti said.
• “Defensively, they got experience in the secondary. They’re a well-coached football team. They’ll have speed,” Cignetti said.
• “Offensively, they’re going to be balanced between the run and the pass, have a lot of nice concepts. They’re going to spread you out, a lot of different looks and formations, make you think a little bit, a lot of switch routes,” Cignetti said.
• “It’s all about the quarterback. The quarterback can break contain when he’s under pressure. He is going to look to throw it first. When you extend plays, some guys tuck it under and they’re just gonna run. He does a good job of throwing the football and extending plays. But he can run it too. He’s a good athlete,” Cignetti said.
• “But they’re going to get the ball to their playmakers in space and in the run game they’re gonna run outside zone, inside zone, insert, and they’ve got good backs. They’ve got three good backs, a good tight end,” Cignetti said.
• “Defensively, they start in a three-down. There’s been some rumors about them going to more four-down. They do a lot of things on defense. They gave up some points on defense last year, so you can’t really predict play in, play out, where they’re going to be,” Cignetti said.
• “I think this team really has a chance. We’ve worked hard and we’re going to be exciting to watch,” Cignetti said.

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