Ready to Mold -- Cignetti, Hoosiers Seek More This Season
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sustain? Are you kidding? Curt Cignetti wants no part of that; he didn’t coach Indiana to unprecedented football success in his Hoosier debut last season just to duplicate it. Not when 11-2 could have been 13-0; not when a first-round loss in the College Football Playoffs could have been so much more.
Cignetti used the annual Big Ten Football Media Days event, held this year at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, to spread the word the Hoosiers are looking for bigger things this season.
“We’re not looking to sustain it, we're looking to improve it,” he said. “The way you do that is by having the right people on the bus -- upstairs in the coaches' offices, downstairs in the locker room. It’s having a blueprint plan and process; it’s having high standards of expectations, never lowering your standards; it’s a day-to-day plan, highly structured and organized; it’s organizational discipline to improve in critical areas, which usually you have to do with player development, scheme development, program development, and create those intangibles entering the season.”
Cignetti and his staff did all of that last season. They blew out their first nine opponents. They scored 41.3 points a game and held opponents to 15.6. They led the nation in rush defense at 81.2 yards. Their losses came on the road to the teams that played in the national title game -- Ohio State and Notre Dame.
It wasn’t a fluke. In 14 seasons as a head coach, Cignetti teams have never had a losing record. His no-nonsense approach is as simple as it is effective.
“It’s consistency day in, day out,” he said. “Consistency is huge so that we can play fast, physical, relentless, smart, disciplined, poised. So that we’re not affected by success, not affected by failure, and never, ever satisfied until the game is over.”
Last year’s 10-0 start duplicated the 10-0 start from the previous year at James Madison. No other coaching staff in NCAA history has done that at different schools in consecutive seasons.
“Staff continuity has been a big part of our success through the years, regardless of where we've been,” Cignetti said. “Kudos to them.”
IU returns standouts such as receiver Elijah Sarratt (53 catches, 957 yards, eight touchdowns last season), linebacker Aiden Fisher (118 tackles 5.5 tackles for loss, four pass breakups, three quarterback hits), defensive lineman Mikail Kamara (47 tackles, 15 for loss, 10 sacks), defensive backs Amare Ferrell (49 tackles, four interceptions) and D’Angelo Ponds (57 tackles, three interceptions and a touchdown), kicker Nicolas Radicic (10-for-11 on field goals, 69-for-69 on extra points), and offensive linemen Carter Smith, Bray Lynch and Drew Evans (who will be ready for fall camp after suffering an Achilles injury last November).
The Hoosiers brought in one of the nation’s best transfers in quarterback Fernando Mendoza from California. He threw for 3,004 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions last season.
“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Cignetti said. “I’m excited to see how he develops.”
IU also thrived in the transfer portal, adding standouts such as running backs Roman Hemby from Maryland and Lee Beebe Jr. from Alabama-Birmingham, center Pat Coogan from Notre Dame, and offensive linemen Kahlil Benson from Colorado and Zen Michalski from Ohio State.
“This year's team has a lot of nice pieces,” Cignetti said. “I would use that term, ‘pieces.’ Now we've got to mold this group into a team in fall camp.
“I like a lot of parts on this team. Now, we've got to get them all thinking alike, buying into the team vision, which is critical to success. You can't ever have any selfishness on your team, ever, regardless of who it is. Personal goals are secondary to team goals.”
A lot of coaches preach that, but few do it as well as Cignetti, who has a career record of 130-37.
“When a team is successful, everyone benefits,” he said. “We've got a blueprint. We've got a plan. We try to improve it, our methods, but for the most part, it’s continuity in staff and everyone thinking alike.
“Understanding what needs done and how we do it has been the key to the drill.”
The season begins Aug. 30 against Old Dominion at Memorial Stadium. It includes a Sept. 20 home game against Illinois, and road games to Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State.
“I’m excited for this season,” Cignetti said. “We’ve got a good Big Ten schedule.
“It will all be done between the white lines. The talking season will end soon. Then, let's play the games and see where it stands at the end of the year.”