Cignetti Pushes Win-Now Message -- Speak Big, Play Bigger
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Curt Cignetti invokes his inner salesman/entertainer -- for his Indiana football team, for his approach, for his win-now belief.
The Hoosier head coach is pumped and primed for his debut season. He has a program to restore, excitement to generate, a Memorial Stadium to pack and victories to deliver, instantly if he can.
Doubt him at your own risk.
The recent Big Ten football media gathering at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium was a perfect opportunity to push the message on a national level, and he delivered. If some view it as cocky, that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Cignetti has never had a losing season in 13 years as a head coach (a 119-35 record), has immediately turned around struggling programs, and has a coaching resume that includes an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator run at Alabama with Nick Saban as a highlight, although not the only one.
“Somebody asked me how you define success at Indiana,” Cignetti says. “I was like, we want to be the best. When I talk about no self-imposed limitations, that’s what I’m talking about.”
Cignetti blasts past coach-speak to say what others won’t while never losing sight of the big picture and the attention-to-details focus required to get there.
“I've had to speak a big game taking over a job like this because we had to wake some people up and create some excitement,” he says. “After all, this is the entertainment business, too.”
Cignetti, 63, has coached for 42 years, but didn’t become a head coach until he was 50, giving up that prominent Alabama job to take over an NCAA Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania program in 2011.
“I bet on myself. I was tired of being an assistant coach. I took a big pay cut, and it worked out.”
Did it ever. His most recent five-year 52-9 record at James Madison University, including last season’s 11-1 mark, led to this IU opportunity.
Linebacker Aiden Fisher, now a Hoosier after an all-conference run for Cignetti at James Madison, is all in.
“It’s his approach to the game,” Fisher says. “He’s a very fierce competitor. When you see the way he coaches on the sidelines, it’s always business. Business comes first. You keep the main thing, the main thing. He finds success no matter where he’s at. That’s his biggest thing.”
No matter the sport, the margin for elite winning is small. Tennis great Roger Federer has said he won 80 percent of his matches, but only 54 percent of his games. It comes down to winning the big point, making the big play, at the key moment.
Cignetti mentioned that IU lost five one-score games last year while finishing 3-9 to follow a 2-10 season. He included a 33-24 loss at Penn State in which the score was tied with just over two minutes left.
“At the places I’ve coached, the guy (Saban) I’ve learned from, we’re pretty darn good at those one-score games.”
A pause.
“Just saying.”
Let others downplay winning prospects. Cignetti is too busy getting others to buy into his confidence, his system, his approach. Nothing is possible without belief, and few coaches have more.
Cignetti sees the fact IU is picked next to last in the Big Ten – a superpower conference boosted by the arrival of former Pac-12 teams Washington, USC, UCLA and Oregon -- as irrelevant.
Wait. It’s not irrelevant. It’s motivational.
“The two times we were picked next to last,” he says, “in 2022, we won the conference championship, and in 2017 (at Elon), we inherited an 8-45 team and won eight in a row and played James Madison the last game of the year for the conference championship.
“Now, I'm not into making predictions. That's just a historical fact.”
Consider IU went 6-2 in the COVID-altered 2020 season, 6-1 in the Big Ten and nearly upset Ohio State for a perfect regular season. That followed an 8-5 record, both under former head coach Tom Allen, and tells Cignetti Hoosier football success is not mission impossible.
“That was just three seasons ago. Now, in this day and age, the Internet society, three seasons ago seems like three decades ago. All of a sudden, Indiana's become like an impossible job or it’s irrelevant.”
In Cignetti and his staff’s view, IU is very relevant. It hit the transfer portal hard and brought in potential standouts such as Fisher, linebacker Jailin Walker, quarterback Kurtis Rourke and more; it retained veteran standouts such as receiver Donaven McCulley, defensive lineman Jacob Mangum-Farrar, and center Mike Katic.
To ensure a winning edge, 13 of IU’s 31 transfers played for Cignetti at James Madison.
“We have a lot of experience,” Cignetti says. “We have a lot of guys who have played winning football and have good career production numbers over multiple years. We've got a good core group of guys that are accustomed to winning and are used to winning.”
That includes a coaching staff heavy on those who worked with Cignetti at James Madison, led by defensive coordinator Bryant Haines (10 years with Cignetti), offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan (nine years), quarterbacks coach/co-offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri (three years), and director of athletic performance Derek Owings (five years).
“I've been blessed with great staff continuity. They understand the blueprint, the process, what I expect, the standard, the expectation, the accountability.
“When you have that kind of continuity and the right kind of people in your program, that makes for a smoother transition.”
Cignetti grew up in a coaching environment. His father, Frank Cignetti Sr., won 199 games as the head coach of West Virginia and IUP, and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He demanded much of his players and of his son, as well as himself. The elder Cignetti beat cancer after twice receiving last rites.
“He’s the greatest man I've ever known,” Curt Cignetti says. “I’m blessed to call him my father.
“He was a very direct man, a very honest man. He had a great work ethic. He led by example. He helped a lot of people and players in their lives.”
Help sometimes came with an edge.
“He was always my biggest critic early on. I threw him off the field one year because he was too critical. But he was very complimentary of the way we played when I was at JMU. I learned a lot from him.”
That learning helped produce records of 53-17 at IUP and 14-9 at Elon before coming to James Madison, and then IU. Cignetti has won with potent offense, stifling defense and that knack for winning close games. He’s assembled a team of depth, skill, experience and potential, and if it lacks power conference accolades, well, just wait.
“I have confidence in our team, but we're not where we need to be,” Cignetti says. “Nobody is. You have so many new players and so many things in August practice that you’ve got to improve on in terms of consistency, performance, intangibles, player development, scheme development and so on.”
Fall camp begins today. IU opens its season on Aug. 31 at Memorial Stadium against Florida International. That's the first of eight home games. Scheduling challenges include trips to UCLA and national title contender Ohio State, and home games against defending national champion Michigan and defending national runner-up Washington.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Cignetti says, “but we've got to put it on the field. Nothing gets people excited like winning. You string together a couple of wins, all of a sudden, you're on national TV every week. You can't get in that stadium. You become the talk of the country.”
Cignetti expects plenty of positive Hoosier talk, now and in the future.
We've got a lot of guys accustomed to getting results. We're very process oriented in terms of what we do: Control the controllables, be humble and hungry, be where your feet are, no self-imposed limitations, improve every minute, every hour, every day, every rep, one play at a time. Buy into that, just improve and see where the process takes you.”
Cignetti knows where that process will take the Hoosiers. Soon enough, others will, too.