Meet the Coaches: Curt Cignetti Used Connection With Nick Saban to Hire Cornerbacks Coach Rod Ojong

Rod Ojong is one of three assistant coaches who came to Indiana this offseason from a school other than James Madison as new head coach Curt Cignetti built his staff. Ojong is coaching cornerbacks, and he uses a technical and aggressive approach.

Cornerbacks coach Rod Ojong comes to Indiana from Charlotte. /

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – New Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti brought seven assistant coaches with him from James Madison, but he used a past connection to fill the cornerback coach position.

Rod Ojong was a defensive quality control coach in 2020 at Georgia, where he learned from one of the nation’s top head coaches, Kirby Smart, one season before the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national championship run. Smart was previously the defensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban, who employed Cignetti as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2007-10.

That coaching tree ultimately led Ojong to Bloomington, where he's coaching Indiana cornerbacks. 

“We knew the same people and kind of had the same philosophy on how [Cignetti] wanted things done,” Ojong said in an interview with Indiana broadcaster Rhett Lewis. “He’s very systematic-based. and he wants things done a certain way. He’s always been a winner, so it was the right thing to do.”

Ojong’s time at Georgia represents just one season in a coaching career that includes 10 different schools in 12 years. Most recently, Ojong was the defensive backs coach at Charlotte in 2023, where defensive back Dante Balfour ranked second in the AAC with 12 pass breakups. Before that, Buffalo defensive back Marcus Fuqua led the FBS with seven interceptions and made the All-MAC first team under Ojong’s direction.

At Georgia, Ojong learned to be detail oriented and to start with the little things. As a coach, he believes a good defensive scheme relies on what the players know – not what he knows – so he tries to make things simple, which allows his position group to play fast.

Now with the Hoosiers, Ojong is preaching to his group Cignetti’s three main principles: play fast, physical and relentless. 

“We’re going to set the tempo,” Ojong said. “We’re not going to sit back and wait for the offense. We want to dictate how the game is going to be played, we want to be aggressive and we want to hit you in the mouth first.”

🗣️ Watch the sauce!@CoachOjong on the mic at Spring Ball. 🎥 pic.twitter.com/7wevY8fe9y

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) April 4, 2024

Ojong has a saying that he uses when coaching to describe what he demands from his players: “It’s a production business. Either you’re producing, or we got no business.”

Indiana returns a few cornerbacks with a track record of production, but the position group also experienced some turnover through the transfer portal. Jamari Sharpe started nine games and played in all 12 as a redshirt freshman in 2023, and Jamier Johnson saw significant playing time in four games while healthy. JoJo Johnson also returns after playing a backup role last season.

Indiana lost starting cornerback Kobee Minor, who transferred to Memphis, and James Monds transferred to Middle Tennessee after being a backup for the Hoosiers in 2023. But Cignetti was quick to replace them, bringing D’Angelo Ponds with him from James Madison, where he was a freshman All-American, as well as Austin Peay transfer Cedarius Doss.

Ojong said cornerback is a technique-based position, and it’s important to explain to young corners that their success in high school won’t always translate immediately to college since opposing receivers might be equally talented now. Because of that, he preaches having your hands and eyes in the right spots in coverage, as well as anticipating pre-snap tendencies and formations. 

“My biggest thing is, ‘be a technician,’” Ojong said.

Ojong joins the Hoosiers with 12 years of coaching experience. He got into coaching because he wanted to impact lives in the same way that coaches impacted his life while playing linebacker at Monmouth College in Illinois, where he was a team captain for two Midwest Conference championship teams.

He strives to make that same kind of impact in Bloomington.

“I’m very close with my guys,” Ojong said. “And I feel like once you connect with a player, they’ll do anything for you. They’ll run through the wall for you, and they’ll play hard for you because they don’t want to let you down. So just building that connection and not letting them down by how I coach, and in return they won’t let me down on the field.”