LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — This football coaching hire is different for Indiana University.
Not because Curt Cignetti, the new IU coach, started his day with a detour to Indianapolis, where he told the Big Ten Network crew that he expected the Hoosiers to be playing in the Big Ten title game at Lucas Oil Stadium next season.
Cignetti was asked if he was ready to put that “on the record.”
“I am on the record,” he quipped.
Not because he spoke for nearly 30 minutes during his introductory press conference at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington and said he didn’t care that Indiana has not won in forever or that other Big Ten schools have more resources and tradition.
“There is no reason we can’t be successful, pack the stadium and be a source of pride,” he said.
This one is different because Indiana University is investing more money in football than it has invested in football in other transitions.
This one is different because Indiana moved swiftly in its coaching transition and did so with the endorsement of the university president.
But, most of all, this one is different because Indiana hired a football coach who won football games at other difficult places to win games. Football is his job. It is also his hobby. Football, football, football. That is what Indiana hired.
Not a popular assistant coach who was already on staff. (See Tom Allen or Bill Lynch for details.)
Not a hot coordinator from a Top 10 program. (See Kevin Wilson.)
Not an alumnus with sparkling credentials. (See Cam Cameron.)
Not a coach with occasional success in the Southeastern Conference (See Gerry DiNardo.)
Indiana hired a coach who expects to do what Howard Schnellenberger did for Louisville or Mark Stoops did for Kentucky -- change the way the school thinks about itself as a football school.
"There will be no self-imposed limitations on what we can accomplish," Cignetti said.
Cignetti separated himself from other candidates to succeed Allen because he’s never endured a losing season and he won better than 77% of his games at Indiana University Pennsylvania, Elon College and James Madison University.
IU President Pamela Whitten said that during the interview process she asked Cignetti to explain his “secret sauce” for building a winning football program.
“I wage a tenacious battle against complacency,” Cignetti said.
I don’t consider it a defining snapshot simply because Cignetti is 62 and he walked away from a secure, successful spot at James Madison to take a job where eight of the last 10 IU coaches were fired.
I consider it a defining snapshot because Whitten involved herself in the process and made the opening comments at the press conference. I’m not certain that Whitten’s predecessor, Michael McRobbie, could explain the difference between football, soccer or baseball.
Football seemed to be an afterthought. McRobbie never talked like a guy who understood college football is important to attracting students or keeping alumni invested in their alma mater.
Whitten gets it. So does IU Athletics Director Scott Dolson. So does IU Board of Trustees chairman Quinn Buckner, who played football at IU for two seasons while also playing four years of basketball and winning a national title.
IU has to punt the charade that it is a basketball school that can can go through the motions in football the way Indiana has for too many years.
Nobody is a basketball school any more.
Everybody is a football school.
Everybody.
With the Big Ten expanding to 20 schools and primed to collect super-sized media rights revenue, Indiana has to stop accepting its role as a punching bag for Ohio State and Michigan, as well as its recent role as a doormat for Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue.
Agreeing to pay more than $15 million to transition from Allen was a signal IU is ready to do that. The mid-week announcement that an IU collective has committed to spend at least $3 million in football-only Name/Image/Likeness funds is a signal IU is ready to do that.
The participation by the university president in the football coaching hire is a signal that IU is ready to do that.
And the decision to hire a coach whose primary qualification is his ability to win at two sad-sack programs (IUP and Elon) as well as at James Madison is the final signal.
“We wanted someone with some swagger with some confidence that could really bring that to our program and really help establish the identity of a football program,” Dolson said.
Cignetti checks those boxes. Son of Frank Cignetti, a Hall of Fame coach. A critical member of Nick Saban’s original staff at Alabama, where he was the recruiting coordinator for an initial class that featured six first-round NFL draft picks.
Went to IUP, which had a 4-10 conference record before he arrived, and won 13 of his first 16 league games. Made the playoffs three times in six seasons.
Went to Elon, which had suffered six straight losing seasons. Went 14-9 in two seasons with back-to-back playoff appearances.
Took a good James Madison program and made it great, transitioning JMU from to FBS from FCS while going 52-9 and making the FCS playoffs in all three seasons the Dukes were eligible.
And now Indiana, which has celebrated two winning seasons in the last 16 years and won its last bowl game in 1991.
“I know how to do it,” Cignetti said. “I’ve been around great people and great mentors …
“I don’t have a magic wand that I’m going to wave right now and everybody is going to feel like a champion and a winner.”
Cignetti said that when he met with his new players on Friday, his message was simple:
“We’re going to change the brand, the culture, the mindset, the expectation level,” he said.
It should be fascinating.
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