It would be quite a shock to the system, no doubt. Despite having arguably the best chance of any team left in the College Football Playoff field to win the national championship, people are going to connect dots whenever they get a moment. Leave it up to Brad Crawford of CBS Sports to see a way where Curt Cignetti gets to coach Fernando Mendoza next season as part of the Las Vegas Raiders...
The Raiders fired head coach Pete Carroll after only one season, but opted to retain general manager John Spytek for another season. He has strong ties to his former Michigan teammate and Raiders minority owner Tom Brady. With the Raiders occupying the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, it almost seems like a foregone conclusion that they will select Indiana's prized Heisman Trophy winner.
So the idea would be for Cignetti to leave this fantastic thing he is building in Bloomington, to then work for the undeniably meddling Mark Davis to attempt to reclaim the sunken ship that is the Silver and Black. Mendoza may have no choice in the matter. Frankly, he may be open to going there, as he would get to work with Brady, hand the ball off to Ashton Jeanty, as well as throw it to Brock Bowers.
However, the idea of Cignetti leaving the Hoosiers for the Raiders at this point in time is just absurd.
Curt Cignetti should not be tempted by any NFL ventures at this time
Even though there is a non-zero chance that Cignetti's elite program-building abilities could work in the NFL, the Raiders are not worth the attempt. They have been largely awful since losing the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers way back in 2002. While Cignetti was able to make something out of truly nothing at Indiana, the stakes are higher in Las Vegas. More importantly, he cannot hide there.
While it could be cool from an unbiased perspective to see Cignetti coach Mendoza beyond just this year, it was always a one-year thing with their partnership. Mendoza was probably off to the NFL anyway. Him winning the Heisman Trophy effectively guarantees that. Meanwhile, Cignetti has TCU transfer Josh Hoover coming in, as well as a plethora of other promising transfer portal pickups, too.
In the end, why would a 60-something college guy make the jump to the NFL, let alone to a franchise like the Raiders? Again, getting to coach Mendoza and be in the same organization as Brady could be cool, but let's try to leave well enough alone for once, please?! Right now, Indiana has a national championship to win. If they pull this off, it will be the epitome of a storybook ending for the Hoosiers.
Look for the Raiders to target a different offensive-minded head coach to get them out of the gutter.