Todd’s Take: Curt Cignetti And His Loyal Assistants Are Aligned On Ball

Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan explained why they have stuck with the Indiana coach for much of his head coaching journey.

Indiana University Defensive Coordinator Bryant Haines instructs players during fall practice at the Mellencamp Pavilion at Indiana University on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In football, there is nothing more holy than bonding over “ball”.

Love of ball lords over all. Thinking about ball. Coaching ball. Diagramming ball. Binge-watching film of ball.

Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines explained that love as it relates to when he first met Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti back in 2014 during his job interview.

“It was day one that I recognized this guy is a ball coach. This is a ball guy. That’s what we are,” Haines said.

Haines lives and breathes ball. Understand, he’s completely self-aware about it.

“You know I’m kind of obsessed with the game,” said Haines, when asked if he thinks about football away from the field, such as when he’s out to dinner.

 “So I’m OK (thinking about football over dinner) with it. You know? My girlfriend is probably not. She probably wants to talk about normal dinner conversation,” Haines saind.

Not that it stops him.

“I mean, if there’s a good two-latch pressure out there that I think up, and I’m going to want to talk about it. She usually hears me out. She’s a good sport about it,” Haines said.

Ball, man. You gotta love it. It’s all about ball.

Sometimes passion for ball, or at least a like-minded philosophy, can take a coaching staff a long way together.

Curt Cignetti understands this. He has brought five assistant coaches to Indiana from James Madison. They understand ball in the way he understands it and it has meshed together well.

Haines and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan have been with Cignetti the longest. Both of them have been part of his staff since his days at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Haines has been with Cignetti for all but one season since 2014. Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, unrelated to the former NFL coach who shares the same name, has been with Cignetti since 2016.

Indiana University Offensive Coordinator Mike Shanahan during fall practice at the Mellencamp Pavilion at Indiana University on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

“I really enjoy working with him [Cignetti] and for him. He is a guy who I have learned a lot from since 2016, my first job with him at IUP coaching the receivers,” Shanahan said.

Where does the loyalty come from? Quite a bit of it is this almost telepathic ability to suss out their love of the same kind of ball. More to the point, it’s about what goes into that brand of ball. The principles, the schemes. Both coordinators relish that level of alignment.

“We have the same core principles and values, which you have heard him speak about, but when it comes to scheme or fundamentals and Xs and Os, we're definitely in line. Everybody in our offensive staff room is aligned,” Shanahan said.

Alignment comes easier when everyone feels like the method to complete a mission should be done the same way.

“I feel like I get pushed every single day to be the best that I can be. He does a good job of making sure every person in the building is someone that has high character and is fun to be around,” Shanahan explained. “It makes coming to work every day more enjoyable, whether it is coaches or players, anybody on his staff. It is kind of a no brainer for me.”

The loyalty Cignetti's assistants have for him is a two-way street. Not every head coach is that bonded with his assistants. It can often be a transactional business arrangement, especially in a field where everyone is trying to climb the ladder, often at the expense of their peers.

However, some of the most successful coaches have always had “their” guys, a phenomenon that goes beyond football.

Where would Nick Saban, one of Cignetti’s mentors, have been without defensive coordinator Kirby Smart? The current Georgia head coach was with Saban at three different coaching stops before he broke off on his own with Georgia. At Iowa, Phil Parker has been Kirk Ferentz’s defensive coordinator since 2013. Their symmetry certainly hasn’t hurt the Hawkeyes’ defense.

Not all of these head coaches share the same philosophies on football, but as long as they and their staff are aligned on what they believe is the right kind of “ball”? They’re ahead of the curve. It's something Indiana didn't have in the final years of Tom Allen, when there was significant staff churn.

Certainly, Indiana is banking on the alignment of thinking among Cignetti and his coaches in the hope it can lift the Hoosiers to consistent winning. If you Google Cignetti, as he says you should, maybe the level of loyalty he generates and that he repays is the secret in his “I win” sauce?

You certainly wouldn’t get an argument his loyal staff.

“He and I are very well aligned in what we believe in philosophically. We’re about tough, physical football teams. We’re about football. The relationship part of it is important, but football, Xs and Os, is what he and I do. It’s what we do for a living,” Haines said.

Which brings Haines back to that first interview with Cignetti when Cignetti was still at IUP. Haines had spent 2013 as a grad assistant at Ohio State.

“My job interview was to go over to his house, where he opened the door, pulled me into the foyer, and we talked ball for about an hour and 25 minutes,” Haines recalled.

“There was maybe one typical interview question, ‘Tell me about yourself.’ After that, it was ball. I liked that. I enjoyed that. That was a good interview. It was a fun interview for me,” Haines continued.

Indiana is hoping that their version of ball will make the Hoosiers winners.

Related stories on Indiana football

• HAINES ON INDIANA FOOTBALL CULTURE: Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines says there's a big difference between Indiana football now versus his previous stint in Bloomington. CLICK HERE.

• SHANAHAN LAYS OUT OFFENSIVE PLAN: Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan spoke to the media on Aug. 16 and talked about his plan for the Hoosiers offense. CLICK HERE.

• CIGNETTI ON QB RACE: Curt Cignetti spoke out Indiana's quarterback competition. CLICK HERE.