Paradigm Shift – IU at Forefront of New College Football World Order
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Welcome to college football’s new world order, where underdogs rise and traditional superpowers fall -- or at least, don’t dominate.
Indiana saw to that with its season for the ages, a 16-0 masterpiece of coaching, playing and tough-minded execution.
Is this an anomaly or the start of a new era?
IU head coach Curt Cignetti, the architect of the most remarkable turnaround in college football history, perhaps the most remarkable in any sport in history, suggest there’s no turning back.
“I think that's called a paradigm shift,” he says. “It's kind of like people can cling to an old way of thinking, categorizing teams as this or that or conferences as this or that, or they can adjust to the new world, the shift of the power balance in the way college football is today.”
The Hoosiers were 9-27 in the three years before Cignetti arrived in December of 2023. They hadn’t won a bowl game since 1991, hadn’t beaten Ohio State since 1988, hadn’t won an outright Big Ten title since 1945, and had only won three bowls in a history that began in 1887.
They beat Ohio State to earn that outright conference title, won two bowl games to get the national championship game, then beat Miami on its home field for the national title.
“To look back at what happened to Indiana previous to us coming, say 10, 20, 50 years ago, it was strictly lacked a commitment from the top,” Cignetti says. “That's it, plain and simple. Nothing else. And we have a commitment, okay.”
As impressive as that commitment is, starting with IU President Pam Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson, you can’t win a championship with just money and resources. You need quality people -- coaches, players, administrators and, yes, fans (think of the huge crowd advantage the Hoosiers had in beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Oregon in the Peach Bowl).
You need a plan, focus, determination and, sometimes, the willingness to get punched in the face and come back stronger (think quarterback Fernando Mendoza, bloodied by multiple hits from Hurricane defenders, delivering the run-through-a-linebacker touchdown for the ages).
“From a program that is known for losing and a culture that was in a bad spot when Coach Cig got here,” linebacker Aiden Fisher says, “it was all about changing the way people think, and that's internal and external from the building.
“We described it as a sleeping giant when we got here. Indiana fans and just the culture around Indiana was just hungry for a winner. They needed the right coach and the right players to come in and flip this thing around.
“It's been a special ride. It’s unbelievable to be a part of this, and doing it at Indiana makes it 10 times more special.”
IU’s championship was fueled, in many ways, by the Hoosier team of 2024, the one that went 11-2 with losses at eventual national champ Ohio State and at eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.
Led by quarterback Kurtis Rourke, it reached the playoffs for the first time in program history.
“The first team never got the national credit it was due because of the controversy over the playoffs, the way we played the last two and a half quarters against Ohio State and Notre Dame,” Cignetti says.
Specifically, some criticized IU’s schedule, saying it hadn’t been challenged in the manner of, say, SEC schools. Cignetti didn’t agree then and doesn’t now. Given he has a national championship and eight national coach-of-the-year honors, the latest being the Paul “Bear” Bryant award he received Wednesday night, he has the national clout to back up his words.
“That team got it all started,” he says. “Never trailed until the ninth game of the year, and when they did up at Michigan State 10-0 in the first quarter, they scored 47 straight. Started out 10-0.
“But it never really got its due. That was a special team.”
These Hoosiers took that special designation and raised it to historic levels.
“You see everybody truly believe, not just believe because they want more catches or more stats, but because they truly believe in the goal,” Mendoza says. “I think it's infectious, and it's infectious throughout the locker room. I'm so blessed to be a part of it.”
Never underestimate the ability of Cignetti and his staff to evaluate players in terms of their playing ability and quality of their character.
The key -- production over potential.
Much of it, Cignetti says, comes from his time as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach under Nick Saban at Alabama. He says Saban had an evaluation sheet, based in part when he was with Bill Belichick on the Cleveland Browns staff. It focused on ankle, knee and hip flexibility, as well as toughness at every position. Cignetti calls stiffness in the ankle, hip and knee “fatal flaws” in a sport that demands explosive movement in those three lower body areas.
As far as choosing production over potential, he says he learned invaluable lessons from his time at Pitt, where an emphasis on potential was required because of the program’s situation.
“There's a lot to be said about what the guy is made of,” Cignetti says, “and his intangibles and his moldability or coachability, what kind of teammate he's going to be. You still have to have a certain level of athleticism to be successful at the P4 level and the Big Ten.”
Unlike other national powers, Cignetti doesn’t load up on four- and five-star players. He gets good players, hungry players, players willing to be coached hard, willing to work and believe and stay disciplined under extreme pressure.
IU wins in part because it doesn’t beat itself. It limits mistakes and rises to the challenge. That’s not by accident.
“You have to get the right group of guys together that combine as a team,” Cignetti says, “guys who are good decision-makers, good people, because you've got to make decisions on the field; you've got to play with discipline and poise and with confidence and day-in/day-out consistency to a high standard and expectation.
“That's what this group of guys has done.”
Center Pat Coogan exemplifies that. He transferred to IU after helping Notre Dame reach last season’s national title game. Cignetti told him he wanted players who have proven they can excel in big moments.
He wanted Coogan, and Coogan delivered.
“It's a credit to Coach Cignetti and recruiting us all here,” he says. “There's been a lot of talk about transfers and all of our different journeys that have all led us to Indiana.
“We're all like-minded individuals that have been recruited here by Coach Cignetti and brought to this place for a common goal and a common purpose.
We're all cut from the same cloth, and I think that showed on the field this year. It's a blessing to be here. It's a blessing to be a part of this group and this journey. I'm grateful to be a part of this brotherhood.”
Does a new college football order require more 16-0 national title seasons from IU?
For Cignetti, who coaches for championships, it’s yes, and no.
“From a schedule and record standpoint, I guess that would be the absolute definition of perfection, and perfection is impossible to attain on a consistent basis.
“We'll continue to take it one day at a time, one meeting at a time, one practice at a time and just keep improving and committing to the process and showing up prepared, trying to put it on the field and see where it takes us.”
Where it will soon take Cignetti is a well-earned vacation.
“I’ll get through the month, take a little vacation in February, go down to some nice hot-weather island for about a week, and then when I come back, I'll figure out a few film projects that I think might fit next year's team and help me grow.”