With Winning Culture in Place, Hoosiers Ready to Roll
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Aiden Fisher has lived the many highs of Curt Cignetti-style football, including last season’s 10-0 Indiana start, the 10-0 opening run from the previous season at James Madison, and just the overall winning, winning and more winning.
The senior linebacker has a strong sense of where these Hoosiers are as they seek to follow up on last year’s 11-2 record-setting effort with an even better run this season, daunting Big Ten schedule be darned.
“This offseason was different because we have the culture set and the standard is established,” Fisher says. “Now, it's more so about getting the new guys in, getting them adapted to it and accustomed to how we run things.
“We are way further along than we were last year, and I think that speaks to having so much returning production and players.”
IU will feature key returning standouts such as Fisher, an All-Big Ten linebacker, All-Americans Mikail Kamara (defensive line) and D’Angelo Ponds (cornerback), All-Big Ten wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (who was just named to the Maxwell Award preseason watch list -- the award honors the nation’s best player) and offensive lineman Carter Smith from one of the nation’s best defenses and offenses. They spearheaded an impressive turnaround from a 3-9 record the season before Cignetti arrived.
The Hoosiers also have brought in one of the nation’s top transfer classes, including quarterback Ferando Mendoza (also on the Maxwell Award watch list) from the University of California, center Pat Coogan of Notre Dame, and running back Roman Hemby from Maryland.
The bottom line -- Cignetti doesn’t just want to duplicate last year’s success, he wants improvement.
“The theme of this year is humble and hungry versus noise and clutter,” he says. “Humble and hungry. If are you humble and hungry and have that fire burning inside your belly and you're committed to high standards, and the leadership has a good plan, a structured, organized plan that's going to lead to your development and team development, then you're going to reach your full potential.”
This gets to the heart of what has made Cignetti for 14 years as a head coach, and decades before that as an assistant coach, a winner. Work and develop and improve, over and over. Take nothing for granted.
“If you are resting on your laurels and you got the warm fuzzies based on what social media is telling you or what you read on social media and you think it's just going to happen again because it happened before,” Cignetti says, “you ain't going to be a very happy camper when the season is over. My job is to make sure that doesn't happen.”
It hasn’t so far. Cignetti has never had a losing record as a head coach, with an overall record of 130-37 in stops at IUP, Elon and James Madsion before coming to IU.
“I'm really good at a couple of things,” he says. “I know I’ve got to improve in a lot of ways, but I'm really good at keeping the main thing the main thing and being a watchdog for complacency and stomping it out. When we go to camp and we get ready for that first game, these guys will be thinking like we need them to think.”
In this new era of college sports with NIL and NCAA settlements, success also requires the financial resources to get and keep the quality players. IU is well equipped to do that.
“On one side, we're talking about player development and becoming the best you can be,” Cignetti says, “and on the other side, we're talking about institutional resources that lead to retention and recruiting.
“Our goal is to be the best. This is a great league. There are some schools in this conference that have had great tradition for a long, long time and have some incredible resources. My personal goal is we're in the top one-third of the conference when it comes to resources in all areas that are critical to program success.
“Now, the landscape is still changing. It’s changing as we speak. You've got to be light on your feet and nimble. At some point hopefully down the road, this thing will settle down and we'll have clear rules and regulations on how we operate.”