Give Urban Meyer a ton of props for not letting Curt Cignetti's success at Indiana take away from his shine. Meyer may have won three national championships during his illustrious college football coaching career at predominantly Florida and Ohio State, but even he is well-aware of what Cignetti just did at Indiana. From a Big Ten bottom-feeder, to 16-0 national champions in two years is crazy?!
Meyer praised Cignetti like he should during the most recent episode of The Triple Option Podcast.
“I’m almost 62. Over 40 years around college football. That’s the greatest coaching job I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.”
Meyer continued by talking about how Cignetti has been able to avoid key coaching attrition as well.
“What he (Curt Cignetti) and his staff, and it’s not just him, he has two coordinators who have been with him for nine years. Pete Carroll went through it, Nick Saban went through it, I went through it. It’s when you start losing your coaches. Because those guys should be head coaches.”
With Bryant Haines and Mike Shanahan backing him up, there is no telling how good Indiana can be!
“What they’ve done, (offensive coordinator) Mike Shanahan and then Bryant Haines, the defensive coordinator, who by the way worked for me at Ohio State, those guys, what they did, I’m telling you, the best coaching job I’ve seen.”
Meyer may work for FOX Sports these days hyping up the Big Ten, but these remarks are flattering.
Urban Meyer calls Curt Cignetti's Indiana run the best coaching job ever
So much has already been said about what Cignetti has accomplished over the course of two seasons at Bloomington. What has not been talked about enough is what his peers think about him and the job that he has done. Since Cignetti has been doing this for a very long time, he has friends everywhere. He has emerged as an unexpectedly sturdy branch off the Nick Saban coaching tree.
For Meyer to praise Cignetti like this, that speaks volumes. He may have only won one of his three national championships at Ohio State, but he still carries a ton of weight in Big Ten Country. Having competed head-to-head with the likes of Saban over the years, Meyer thought he had seen everything. We are fully in uncharted waters when it comes to Indiana football under Coach Cignetti.
To attempt to tie a bow on this, the point that really stands out from Meyer's glowing comments on Cignetti has everything to do with Haines and Shanahan. In time, they will have a high enough profile to merit leading their own teams. One day, they will. That could be when Indiana pulls back just a bit. We saw coaching attrition get the best of Saban, Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and possibly Ryan Day.
How Cignetti implements his culture for as long as Haines and Shanahan are around will remain key.