Cignetti’s ‘Maximum Impact’ Approach: ‘Hit Them Right Between the Eyes’
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
MIAMI - Curt Cignetti arrives in black Indiana attire at the Florida International practice fields, white note sheet in right hand, all business as you might expect.
It’s a brief window into practice as the top-seeded Hoosiers (15-0) prepare to face 10th-seeded Miami (13-2) in Monday night’s national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium. There are coaching points to make and final sharpening to execute to complete an unprecedented season on winning terms.
Cignetti has built a 26-2 juggernaut in his first two seasons in Bloomington no one outside the program saw coming after the 9-27 record that preceded it. Why? Because they lacked vision, faith and understanding Cignetti honed through four decades of coaching, and lessons learned from a Hall of Fame football coaching father (Frank Cignetti Sr.) to a mentor and perhaps the greatest coach in college history (Nick Saban).
He came out brash -- “Google me, I win” and then, “Purdue sucks, and so do Ohio State and Michigan” -- to jump start a fan base and culture too used to losing.
“You take over a losing program,” Cignetti says, “and you've got to change the way people think, and then you've got to get them to believe. If they do things the right way, prepare the right way, there's no self-imposed limitations to what you can accomplish. Ninety-five percent of the game in season is right between the ears.”
The result -- IU overwhelms with offense, defense, and special teams. It plays with poise and purpose, discipline and determination, every play, no matter the score. Teams that can’t keep up get crushed; those that do get their hearts broken. Indiana, under Cignetti, is fine with either outcome.
“One of the reasons that we have so many lopsided scores (10 by 25 or more points), and it's not that I throw the ball more, but we run the ball and our twos and threes are playing really hard so the point total goes up,” he says.
As for winning by cliffhanger, which IU has done four times so far against Iowa, Oregon during the regular season, Penn State and Ohio State, Cignetti adds, “You're going to play close games, and you've got to find a way to win them. The one thing about this team is they have played like we want them to play. Certain things we preach on the opening kickoff to the end of the game, and they've tried to do that pretty consistently. If you do those kind of things and you've got enough talent, you should win your share of those close games.”
Along the way, don’t expect long practices or speeches.
“I make my points, and I have a way of getting it across to the kids in as few words as possible,” Cignetti says. “I think (defensive coordinator) Bryant Haines said it best when he said, ‘Get it across in as few words as possible with the most amount of impact.’
“That's been my philosophy for a long time. If I've got something, a point I need to make, I'm going to hit them right between the eyes.”
That reflects a demanding approach that some might consider old school amid perceived 21st Century lowering of standards, perhaps even out of style, but it works.
Boy, does it work. In 15 seasons as a head coach, Cignetti has never had a losing record.
“In coaching, you get what you demand,” Cignetti says, “and if you're not coaching it, you're allowing it to happen when you see something you don't like. We want to do everything to a high standard, and there's got to be accountability when guys can't consistently meet the bar.
“Discipline on the field is getting 11 guys to do their jobs because when you've got 11 guys that do their jobs consistently, play in, play out, it's not addition, it's multiplication.
“The challenge is not to only that play in its entirety; it's all the plays. It’s not being affected by success, not affected by failure, never satisfied.
“There are a lot of things that go into that to get 11 guys to do their jobs. When you do have success, act like you've been there before. We’re also one of the lowest penalized teams in America and always have been. Play smart, disciplined, poised. All those things are discipline.
“We're No. 1 in the country in turnover ratio. That's discipline.
“If you want to be good in anything in life, you've got to have a goal, and then you've got to be committed to it and have the discipline day in, day out to work toward your goal. You need the work ethic and the mental toughness to persevere. That all goes into discipline.”
It all leads to Monday night’s winner-take-all opportunity. Hype and pressure collide and the team that best handles it will likely win.
Cignetti has planned for this, has planned for it, in many ways, all his coaching life.
“To me it's noise and clutter. You stay focused on the here and now, control the controllables, be detailed in your preparation. That gives you the most confidence going in. It gives you the best chance.
“Because we have so many guys on this team that are older and have started so many games, the moment has never been too big. We have not always been perfect, but we've been very consistent in all three phases.
“As we went on the road and won tight games, especially at the end of the game, Iowa being the first one, that gave us more belief and confidence. It put us in a better position for the same type of game.”
What will that mean Monday night against a Miami team that has won seven straight, including a win over second-seed Ohio State?
We’re about to find out.