Two-time national coach of the year Curt Cignetti enters his third season as head football coach at Indiana University after he engineered the two most successful seasons in program history to open his coaching tenure.

Named the 30th head football coach in IU football history on December 3, 2024, his first two calendar years on campus have seen arguably the most noteworthy turnaround in FBS history.

After leading one of the best first-year turnarounds in FBS history in 2024 with a 7 1/2-win improvement over the previous season, he engineered the 16-0 College Football Playoff national championship team.

The 16 wins in 2026 tie the all-time FBS single season mark (Yale, 1894) and set the Big Ten record for victories. He has led Indiana to a nation’s-best 27 victories over his first two seasons in Bloomington, the most by an FBS coach in their first two seasons at a school all-time.

The back-to-back double-digit win seasons marked the first two in Indiana’s history, while the 17 Big Ten wins set a program-best mark over a two-year stretch and are tied for No. 2 in Big Ten history.

Nationally, Cignetti was the first-ever Division I head coach to start 8-0 or better in consecutive seasons at different institutions and the third ever to begin consecutive seasons at 10-0 (Larry Coker - Miami (Fla.), 2001-02; Urban Meyer - Ohio State, 2012-13). He is also just the third Big Ten head coach to start each of his first two seasons with at least an 8-0 record along with Urban Meyer (Ohio State; 2012-13) and Fielding Yost (Michigan; 1901-02).

He won 14 of the 17 national coach of the year awards he was eligible in his first two seasons at Indiana, which includes being the first back-to-back winner for five of those honors. Along with the national accolades, Cignetti is the first coach to win both the Hayes-Schembechler (coaches vote) and Dave McClain (media vote) Big Ten Coach of the Year awards in consecutive seasons in conference history (1982-91, 2011-present).

INDIANA (2024-)
Cignetti has immediately elevated the Indiana program with a nation’s-best 27 victories over his first two seasons at the helm, a pair of College Football Playoff appearances and IU’s first national title (2026).

Coaching Accolades and Antidotes
• He has won 14 of the 17 national coach of the year awards he was eligible to win between the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
• Is the first FBS coach to win consecutive national coach of the year awards from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press, ESPN Home Depot, The Sporting News and Walter Camp Foundation.
• Cignetti is the first-ever Division I head coach to start 10-0 in consecutive seasons at different schools. (James Madison, 2023; Indiana, 2024) and is one of three coaches all-time to begin his Power 4 coaching career with consecutive 10-0 starts.
• Set the program record for victories in back-to-back seasons with 11 in 2024 and 16 in 2025. Those two seasons mark the only two double-digit win seasons in program history.
• Cignetti engineered a 7.5-game improvement from Indiana’s 2023 to 2024 season, a number that currently sits tied for the second-best improvement by a first-year head coach since at least 1996 (June Jones, Hawai’i; 8.5 games).
• One of six Big Ten coaches that started their Big Ten tenures with 10-0 overall records in the AP Poll Era (since 1936): Cignetti (2024), Ryan Day (Ohio State, 2018-19), Urban Meyer (Ohio State, 2012), Earle Bruce (Ohio State, 1979), Bennie Oosterbaan (Michigan, 1948-49) and Carroll Widdoes (Ohio State, 1944-45).
• He is the only Indiana head coach to begin his head coaching tenure 4-0 or better and his 11 wins set the mark for wins by a first-year IU head coach, previously held by James M. Sheldon (8; 1905).

Notes & Records
• Tutored Indiana’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who also claimed the Walter Camp and Maxwell National Player of the Year awards, along with the Davey O’Brien and Manning Awards as the nation’s top quarterback.
• Boasts 12 All-America selections over his two seasons at the helm of the Hoosiers, including two-time selections Aiden Fisher and D’Angelo Ponds. That total is the most in a two-year span in program history.
• Seen 23 players (10 offense, 10 defense, three special teams) earn All-Big Ten honors, with 11 more honorable mention selections.
• Four conference specialty award winners in 2025 marked the most in a single season in program history: Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year and Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year (Mendoza), Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year (Carter Smith) and Bakken-Anderson Kicker of the Year (Nico Radicic).
• Finished No. 2 nationally with a program-record 81 offensive touchdowns scored, which included an FBS-best and IU-record 46 passing touchdowns.
• The 77 points in the Western Illinois in 2024 set the single-game program record for points in a game and the 66 points against Purdue in a 66-0 shutout are the most by an IU team in a Big Ten game. The previous marks were 76 (Franklin College, 1901) and 63 (at Wisconsin, 2001).

Staff Retention
• Quickly built his staff with familiar names, as six assistant coaches followed Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana: Bryant Haines (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers), Mike Shanahan (Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers), Grant Cain (Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends), Pat Kuntz (Defensive Tackles), John Miller (Running Backs) and Tino Sunseri (Quarterbacks/Co-Offensive Coordinator).
• Ten of the 11 full-time staff members hired by Cignetti at Indiana have worked multiple years on his staff, with nine of them entering their third season or longer at Indiana.
• Haines and Shanahan have been with Cignetti for the long haul. Both took jobs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and were elevated to coordinator for the first time at James Madison under Cignetti.

AT JAMES MADISON (2019-23)
• Cignetti amassed massive success in his five-year tenure at James Madison. The Dukes went 52-9, including a 19-4 mark in 2022 and 2023, JMU's first two years as an FBS program.
• In his five years at the helm, Cignetti's teams went 52-9 overall and 31-4 in conference play.
• Of his many accomplishments in Harrisonburg, Virginia, he is the first head coach to lead a team into the AP Top 25 during a program’s first year of transition from FCS to FBS (2022).
• The 2023 season was nothing short of magical as the team went 11-1, owned a 7-1 mark in the Sun Belt to win the East Division and spent time in the national rankings. JMU clinched the school’s first bowl bid (Armed Forces Bowl), claimed its second of back-to-back division titles, and spent time in the top 25 for six-straight weeks.
• The outstanding season earned Cignetti 2023 Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
• In 2022, JMU went 8-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in conference play to finish tied for first in the East Division. The Dukes opened with a 5-0 record, earning its top-25 nod for the first time in the program’s FBS history.
• Prior to its FBS success, Cignetti helped the Dukes to similar FCS success with three-consecutive CAA championships and three playoff appearances, which included a 2019 FCS National Championship Game appearance and two semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021.
• Cignetti led James Madison to a 14-2 record and the national title appearance in his first campaign in Harrisonburg in 2019. JMU reeled off 14 consecutive wins, went 8-0 in league play, and notched eight nationally-ranked wins, with three inside the top-10.
• The Dukes went 7-1 and reached the FCS semifinals in 2020, and finished 12-2 with a conference championship and semifinal appearance in their final FCS season in 2021.
• A 2019 Eddie Robinson Award finalist, Cignetti mentored 27 Dukes to All-America status. At the conference level, he tutored one player of the year, three offensive players of the year, two defensive players of the year, and one special teams player of the year.
• James Madison totaled 72 all-conference honorees, including 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year quarterback Jordan McCloud and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year defensive lineman Jalen Green.

AT ELON (2017-18)
• Prior to his stint at James Madison, Cignetti amassed a 14-9 record over two years at Elon (2017-18), a program that went 12-45 in the previous five campaigns.
• The Phoenix qualified for the FCS Playoffs both seasons, just the second and third playoff berths in program history (2009).
• Cignetti led Elon to a six-win improvement in 2017 with an 8-4 overall record and 6-2 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play to finish second in the rankings. The Phoenix defeated four ranked opponents and returned to the national rankings for the first time since 2010.
• The 2017 squad’s eight-game winning streak was the longest for Elon since 2009 and earned him Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors.
• A postseason appearance and No. 20 national ranking helped him earn a fourth-place finish in the voting for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year award.
• Elon secured a second-straight playoff appearance in 2018, with the No. 9 Phoenix knocking off No. 2 James Madison for the program’s first-ever win over an FCS top-5 opponent. The victory also snapped the Dukes’ 22-game conference winning streak.

AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY PENNSYLVANIA (2011-16)
• Cignetti’s inaugural head-coaching opportunity came at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2011-16.
• The IUP job was personally special for Cignetti as his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., played for the Crimson Hawks and later patrolled the sidelines for 20 years as head coach.
• He went 53-17 with three NCAA Division II Playoff appearances and four Top 25 finishes in six seasons.
• The Crimson Hawks touted a 33-11 ledger in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference after a 4-10 two-year stretch prior to his arrival. Cignetti was 4-3 in the playoffs and had a final ranking as high as No. 12 (2016).

AS AN ASSISTANT COACH
• Cignetti’s 26-year tenure as an assistant coach featured stops at Davidson (1985), Rice (1986-88), Temple (1989-92), Pittsburgh (1993-99), NC State (2000-06) and Alabama (2007-10).
• Worked as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator on Nick Saban’s first coaching staff at Alabama. His connection with Saban began with his father, Frank Cignetti, who hired Saban while the head coach at West Virginia.
• The Crimson Tide went 12-2 in 2008, the same year Cignetti helped corral the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. Alabama followed with an undefeated national championship season in 2009, and a 10-win campaign in 2010.
• He joined the Crimson Tide after a seven-year stint as recruiting coordinator (2000-06), tight ends coach (2000-02), and quarterbacks coach (2003-04) at NC State.
• The Wolfpack reached five bowl games in seven seasons, including the 2002 Gator Bowl squad that set a program record with 11 victories.
• His first run as a recruiting coordinator came in his second stint at Pittsburgh from (1993-99), where he also coached tight ends and quarterbacks at various times under College Football Hall of Famer Johnny Majors.
• He mentored quarterbacks and receivers at Davidson in 1985 and oversaw the quarterbacks at Rice (1986-88) and Temple (1989-92).
• Cignetti started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pitt (1983-84) and was part of its Fiesta Bowl team his first year.

PERSONAL
• Curt and his wife, Manette, have three children, Natalie, Carly and Curtis. Natalie was an honorable mention All-American in volleyball at IUP.
• Cignetti earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from West Virginia in 1982, where he lettered at quarterback (1979-82).
• His father, Frank, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame after he compiled a coaching record of 199-77-1 at West Virginia (1976-79) and IUP (1986-2005). The field at IUP is named in his honor: Frank Cignetti Field at George P. Miller Stadium.

HEAD COACHING HONORS
Indiana
Big Ten Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
Associated Press Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
Home Depot Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
Sporting News Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2024, 2025)
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2025)
Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year (2025)
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2024)
George Munger Award (2025)

James Madison
Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year (2023)

Elon
Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year (2017)

Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2012)

COACHING EXPERIENCE
Indiana University
2024-: Head Coach
James Madison University
2019-23: Head Coach
Elon University
2017-18: Head Coach
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
2011-16: Head Coach
University of Alabama
2007-10: Recruiting Coordinator/Wide Receivers
North Carolina State University
2000-06: Recruiting Coordinator/Quarterbacks/Tight Ends
University of Pittsburgh
1993-99: Quarterbacks/Tight Ends
Temple University
1989-92: Quarterbacks
Rice University
1986-88: Quarterbacks
Davidson College
1985: Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers
University of Pittsburgh
1983-84: Graduate Assistant

Indiana University Athletics

2011 Football Roster

Max Dedmond

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