Why Cignetti Won More Than Fisch -- And How UW Coach Might Surpass Him

Both football leaders have liberally pursued players they left behind at James Madison and Arizona.

UW freshman Adam Mohammed looks for room to run against Penn State. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Some people have criticized him, snidely suggesting he went out and bought his old team. Others voiced admiration for his deep connection to his players, noting how so many were willing to follow him to his new job.

The Curt Cignetti factor.

What it boils down to is the football coach mixed plenty of loyal talent from James Madison with inherited players at Indiana and won right away at the Big Ten school.

Cignetti guided the biggest loser historically in college football annals into the brand new 12-team College Football Playoff, where the Hoosiers' Cinderella surprising season came to an end last week with a 27-17 loss at Notre Dame.

The brash Cignetti now will be tasked with moving forward after seemingly exhausting his previous stop of available talent and see if he can keep Indiana successful by using other means.

However in Seattle, Jedd Fisch is still relying on the former player procurement playbook to build his new team, still working his prior Arizona relationships to stock his University of Washington roster.

This past Friday, Fisch received a transfer portal commitment from senior linebacker Jacob Manu, who was a first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker in Tucson in 2023 yet sidelined with a knee injury for much of the recent season. A day later, the coach earned another pledge from junior edge rusher Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei, a 12-game Arizona starter this past season.

Arizona defensive lineman Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei tackles Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson in their 2024 game. / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

An obvious question is this: why was Cignetti such an instant winner with his 11-2 Indiana team and Fisch only moderately successful out of the blocks at 6-6 in Montlake? After all, the Hoosiers leader even won his head to head match-up with Fisch by beating the Huskies soundly, 40-16, in Bloomington.

It can all be explained by the numbers, crunched in different ways.

ARIZONA-FLIPPED HUSKIES	UW 2024 Season Results
Bryce Butler, DT, Jr.	JC transfer, played in 3 games
Rashawn Clark, S, Fr.	Played in 1 game
Jonah Coleman, RB, Jr.	11-game starter, 1,011-yard rusher
Charlie Crowell, TE, Fr.	Injured missed entire season
Russell Davis II, ER, Jr.	Played in 3 games, Big Ten co-Defensive Player of Week
Kevin Green Jr., WR, Soph.	Injured, missed entire season
Audric Harris, WR, Fr.	Played in 7 games
Justin Hylkema, OT, Fr.	Redshirted season
Michael Levelle-Watkins, OG, Fr.	Redshirted season
Jacob Manu, LB, Sr.	Will transfer in for 2025 season
Adam Mohammed, RB, Fr.	Appeared in all 12 games
Ephesians Prysock, CB, Jr.	Started all 12 games
Jordan Shaw, NB, RFr.	Indiana transfer, Arizona signee started 8 games
Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei, ER, Jr.	Will transfer in for 2025 season
Anthony Ward, LB, Jr.	Special-teamer played in 11 games
Isaiah Ward, ER, Soph.	Started 5 games, played in all 12
Jordan Washington, RB, Fr.	Played 1 game
Demond Williams Jr., QB, Fr.	Started 1 game, played in all 12
Raheem Wright Jr., S, Fr.	Played in 1 game

Given a 48-day head start, Cignetti was hired on Nov. 30, 2023, to restore a 3-9 program to something a lot more upbeat.

On Jan. 16, of this year, Fisch took charge of the Huskies coming off a 14-1 season and a national runner-up finish, yet handed a roster gutted by the coaching change that sent Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, players departing for the NFL and others entering the transfer portal, leaving just two returning starters.

Those seven weeks between the coaches' hirings in Indiana and the UW made all the difference in the world.

With an 11-2 season barely concluded for his Sun Belt team, Cignetti used that momentum to persuade 13 of his James Madison players -- who appeared in a stealthy 356 games and started 231 -- to follow him to the Big Ten.

Much later, Fisch initially brought six of his veteran Arizona football players with him to the UW who totaled 111 games played and 36 starts, mostly younger guys compared to the veteran talent pool that went with Cignetti to Indiana.

Arizona Wildcats linebacker Jacob Manu (5) tackles Husky running back Dillon Johnson in their 2023 game in Tucson. / Zachary BonDurant-Imagn Images

Why Fisch may end up leapfrogging his coaching peer in future success is this: He flipped 11 players who were signed to Arizona financial agreements to the UW, while Cignetti picked up just five scholarship signees from James Madison.

Adding in Manu and Uiagalelei, the Huskies now have 19 former Arizona players or signees in the fold -- compared to 18 for Cignetti with the Hoosiers -- and Fisch still could add to that total.

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