Curt Cignetti Brings Much-Needed Winning Attitude To Indiana Football

Curt Cignetti is the new football coach at Indiana, and he made a great first impression during his introductory press conference on Friday in Bloomington. He's won everywhere he's been, and he plans on doing the same with the Hoosiers.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Curt Cignetti has a process and a plan for running a football program, and he knows it works. That process, he says, is the reason why he's won everywhere he's been.

The plan now is to do that at Indiana, the school with the most losses in major-college history. He is the 30th head football coach at Indiana, and Cignetti is undeterred by the fact that none of them ever had a winning record in Big Ten games.

That's his next challenge, to win at Indiana. He takes over for Tom Allen, who won in 2019 and 2020 — going a combined 14-5 in those two seasons — but lost a lot in the past three years, going just 9-27 and winning only three Big Ten games in three years. He was fired on Sunday, and five days later, it's Cignetti who takes over, prepared ''to change the culture of Indiana football.'' 

The 62-year-old coach was hired away from James Madison, where he led the Dukes to a 11-1 record in 2013. He went 19-4 during their first two years in FBS football and had an overall mark of 52-9 in five seasons at the Harrisonburg, Va., school. He also coached at Indiana University Pennsylvania and Elon, and has an overall record of 119-35. 

He knows major-college football as well. He's been an assistant for Nick Saban at Alabama, and has also coached at N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Rice. And when Saban says this is a good hire, then you tend to believe that's true.

Cignetti won his first press conference on Friday, brimming with confidence that he can win at Indiana. And the work starts right now. 

"There is no reason why we can't be successful, pack the stadium and be a source of pride to the entire university and town of Bloomington and the state of Indiana,'' Cignetti said. "We are going to change the culture, the mindset, the expectation level and improve the brand of Indiana Hoosiers football. 

"There will be no self-imposed limitations on what we can accomplish. It will be a day-by-day process that is hinged on being focused on the present moment and improving as much daily as possible to put yourself in the best position tomorrow. This is tremendous institution, and the time has come to make some noise and make a statement."''

Cignetti is 62 years old, and he has spent most of his career running outstanding offenses. Four of his last five quarterbacks at James Madison won conference player of the year honors.

He likes to do things a certain way. Winning is all he knows. The plan is for him to bring several of his James Madison coaches to Bloomington with him, once all the paperwork is done.

"It's validation that the process works and our way of doing things work,'' Cignetti said. "And I'll hire a good nucleus of guys from that stuff and the philosophy of how we do things won't change much. Everybody wants to improve their processes daily, right? You don't want to do things the same way, you want to continue growing so you're not getting caught and passed up.''

Cignetti pointed out that James Madison led the country in one-score victories this season. Indiana lost five games by one score, including the last three against Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue that sealed Allen's fate.

"The margin for victory, like (Indiana) president (Pam) Whitten said, in this game is like this,'' Cignett said, holding his fingers close together. "Didn't you lose six one-score games last year? I think so, yeah. You're talking about a couple of plays that make a difference in a game. 

"So that's why finding the edge, having the edge, the right mindset going into a game, making sure complacency isn't setting into your organization on Sunday after a big win, or Monday. That by Wednesday you better know in your mind, you got it right.''

Cignetti sets a high bar, and he made it very clear that wouldn't change at Indiana. He understands the challenge ahead, but he's already had his taste of NIL and the transfer portal, and he plans to use both aggressively at Indiana.

"There's no problem with average, except in my business. In my business, average is the enemy," Cignetti said. "With NIL, we've se it as smart and efficiently as possible. It’s mathematics, and it's really not that hard. You lose a player, you go get a player. And we've used the transfer portal plenty at JMU. We'll find the best player who fit well here. You've got to engage with the portal, if you don't, you've got no chance. But you build it with high school guys.''

Cignetti made a stop in Indianapolis and was interviewed by the Big Ten Network, which is on site for Saturday's Big Ten Championship Game against Michigan and Iowa,. He then came to Bloomington and got a tour of the facilities. He also met with the current Indiana players, and there be much more of that in the coming days.

Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson didn't take questions during the press conference, but talked with a few local media members afterward. He said their search was "thorough and exhaustive,'' and that Cignetti ''was everything we were looking for. He's a winner, and he has a lot of confidence. He knows he can win here, and I certainly believe he can win here too.

"We have the resources, and there's no reason why we can't win here. I told him, that this is a 'sleeping giant,' and he agrees. He really stood out in our talks, and I'm thrilled that he's our coach.''

Dolson said that firing on Allen on Sunday morning ''was very hard, because I have an enormous amount of respect for that man,'' he said. "Tom Allen did everything we asked of him here, and he represented this university well. When we'd ask him to speak to a team or at an event, he always said yes. He took it hard, but as a true professional.

"I just felt like we had lost our momentum and I didn't feel like we could get it back without making a change. That's always hard, but I feel great about the hire we've made. I'me very excited for the future of Indiana football.''