Identifying Character Is Big Part Of Curt Cignetti’s Success

Buy-in is what every coach wants and Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti has been able to get it in a very short period of time with the Hoosiers.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti talks with Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Andison Coby (0) in the first quarter against the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Memorial Stadium. / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – You can pick just about any quote from just about any Indiana football players going back to fall camp, and they all speak volumes about their level of buy-in when it comes to the ways of Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti.

Here’s an example from Indiana defensive end Mikail Kamara before the UCLA game on Sept. 14.

“The whole we're going to be in L.A. thing, the UCLA thing, playing in the Rose Bowl. It is cool. It is a great experience. But at the end of the day football is football, and once the pads are on, once the ball is kicked, it's football. It doesn't matter what stadium it is,” Kamara said.

That’s eerily similar to comments Cignetti made earlier the same week about needing to play good football regardless of whether the game was in the Rose Bowl or a parking lot.

Indiana’s players often sing the same tune Cignetti does when he speaks to the media. The 24-hour-rule on celebrating wins. The vibe of never being satisfied. The refusal to put a limit on what a player or the team can achieve.

Every coach wants this. Cignetti gets it. How does he do it?

A big part of it is prioritizing character traits and unselfishness from the beginning. Raw talent is wonderful, but only useful if the player moves in the same direction as everyone else.

“I sit down with all of them in my office because you want people that can kind of buy into the team concept, understand commitment and discipline, hard work, that are moldable and not necessarily totally self-centered type people. It's all about people,” Cignetti said on Monday.

Cignetti said a big key when it comes to identifying the traits he wants from his players is to do the same when he’s assembling his coaching staff.

You know what to do. pic.twitter.com/5o3jJhJp5L

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) September 28, 2024

“It's all about the people you hire and recruit. In recruiting, talent's important but character is equally important,” Cignetti said.

It’s also about staying on message and not straying from it regardless of whether the team is succeeding . With Indiana off to its first 5-0 start since 1967, it would be a time to be tempted by all of the possibilities that are within the Hoosiers’ grasp.

Cignetti called thoughts like that “rat poison” last week, and he has also warned against the “warm and fuzzies” that can set in when things are going well.

“To me, part of coaching, you're sending those messages in spring football practice, fall training camp, how are we going to respond when this happens, that happens. It's the way we play the game: Never too high, never too low,” Cignetti said.

For all of his occasional noteworthy statements, Cignetti rarely gets outwardly upset about confronting adversity. Whether it’s a bad call, bad luck or a bad play by his own team.

“You're not emotional about the circumstances of the football game. You're focused on the here and now and what's your job, keeping your poise and composure. When you get 11 guys doing their job consistently, that can happen,” Cignetti said.

It has happened for the unbeaten Hoosiers. Cignetti’s ability to find players who march to his beat continues to be a big reason why success has come so soon for Indiana football under its first-year coach.

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