MIAMI (AP) 鈥� Indiana coach Curt Cignetti built a winner right away with a recruiting strategy built for a new era of college football.
Turns out, he鈥檚 not the only one with a knack for bringing talent to the Hoosiers.
On the eve of Indiana鈥檚 first trip to the , Cignetti recalled telling his wife that he planned on declining the opportunity to coach the Hoosiers. He liked James Madison. It felt like home.
And then the phone rang. It was Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson.
鈥淗e called me up and said, 鈥楥ongratulations, you鈥檙e the , and we鈥檙e going to kick some butt,’鈥� Cignetti said. “He didn鈥檛 give me a chance to say no. He told me I鈥檓 the new head coach. My wife said, 鈥榊ou should have seen that look in your eye,鈥� like what did I do?鈥�
That鈥檚 how a winner was born 鈥� a team that has gone from a perennial loser to 26-2 over the past two seasons and is a win away against Miami on Monday night from bringing home the national championship.
It has been a winding road for the 64-year-old coach. But he had a pretty clear vision from the jump of what he wanted his future to look like, thanks to an early exposure to the game from a coaches’ point of view.
Long before leading Indiana to its first undefeated regular season and national championship game appearance, Cignetti was 7 years old and watched every home West Virginia football game from the field.
It was where his father, , served as an assistant from 1970 to 1975, before succeeding Bobby Bowden as the head coach in 1976.
In 1982, Curt Cignetti got his first taste of Indiana when his father transitioned to become the director of athletics at his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Frank Cignetti became IUP鈥檚 head football coach in 1986 and led the program for 20 years.
In Western Pennsylvania, the natural progression was to work in the steel mill or coal mines. Frank Cignetti didn鈥檛 go that route, and his oldest son quietly took notes.
鈥淢y dad was a great role model growing up. I was the oldest of four, and he led by example. He had a presence about him, and he had a great work ethic, disciplined commitment. Back then 鈥� grew up in Western PA, everybody worked in the mill or the mines, and he went to college and became an assistant at Pitt, Princeton, West Virginia for Bobby Bowden, became the head coach,鈥� Cignetti said. 鈥淗e was my inspiration.鈥�
After graduating from West Virginia in 1982, Cignetti embarked on his own coaching journey, starting in the same place his father鈥檚 did, at the University of Pittsburgh. He spent the next 24 years working his way up the college football ranks before landing with in Alabama as a recruiting coordinator and receivers coach.
It was Cignetti’s last stop before making the jump to head coach, and perhaps the one where he learned the most. He was hired as IUP’s head coach in 2011, just six years after his father had retired from the same position.
鈥淚 was hitting the big 5-0, I had a couple of daughters in high school that wanted to be doctors, Sam was a freshman at Alabama, and I didn鈥檛 want to be a 60-year-old career assistant,鈥� Cignetti said. 鈥淚 had grown up in the business. I had tracked assistant coaches鈥� families and careers, and I didn鈥檛 want to do that. So I bet on myself.鈥�
Fourteen years later, that has paid off. After stints at Elon and James Madison, he became the 30th head coach of the Hoosiers football team.
and 13 players followed Cignetti from JMU to Indiana, including standouts Elijah Sarratt, Aiden Fisher and D鈥橝ngelo Ponds.
The Indiana coach was one of the few to see potential in Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback , who transferred from Cal.
His pitch? 鈥淕oogle me.鈥�
Fisher said it was a no-brainer.
鈥淚 trust Coach Cignetti鈥檚 plan. He has a blueprint to win,” Fisher said Saturday. “I know a lot of people really doubted him coming to Indiana, who was historically not a great football program. But it was just about trusting him, trusting that he was going to bring in the right people, which he did, and the coaches that I was able to flourish under at JMU.鈥�
What Cignetti has accomplished in his two years in Bloomington has turned heads all across the sport. He has brought a historically unsuccessful program to new heights. The Hoosiers have lost just two games in two years and clinched a College Football Playoff berth twice, most recently earning the and first-round bye after an unbeaten 2025 regular season and Big Ten title.
Now, the team is taking on Miami in the national championship game.
鈥淭here鈥檚 one more chapter to write,” Cignetti said Sunday morning. 鈥淲e鈥檒l find out (how it ends) in about 36 hours.鈥�
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