It didn't take long for Curt Cignetti to take the college football world by storm at the helm of the Indiana football program.
Coming off a historic 16-0 season and National Championship in his second season in Bloomington, Cignetti has received plenty of praise from all around the college football world. Most notably, the Hoosier head coach has won back-to-back AP Coach of the Year Awards, and was the recipient of the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award this past season.
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The ultimate sign of respect has come in the form of praise fellow head coaches, as his peers in the coaching profession know first-hand about the demands of the job.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is the latest coach to join the Curt Cignetti fan club.
Steve Sarkisian offers comprehensive praise of the job Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana
Speaking with Greg McIlroy on Always College Football, Sarkisian went into great detail about the "amazing job" that Cignetti has done at Indiana.
"There’s a lot of ways to find the path to make it. Curt Cignetti, an amazing job at Indiana. What he’s done the last two years, there’s not a guy in our profession that can’t say, ‘What an unbelievable job.’ The way he did it has been somewhat unconventional with the sixth-year seniors, the transfers, the veteran group, the way they practice. All those things. But one thing in there, he adjusted their schedule, too. They’ve got a fresh team, they’re playing a lot of players early in the year, they’re a happy team."Steve Sarkisian
As Sarkisian points out, there are a lot of reasons for Cignetti's success at Indiana. For starters, he is an elite evaluator of talent and has a keen eye for finding under-the-radar players who can emerge into stars under his leadership.
Whether it be on the recruiting trail or in the transfer portal, Cignetti isn't focus on putting together a roster of 4 and 5-star prospects. He is focused on finding the right players for his program. It's clear that his strategy is effective, as he was able to win a National Championship with a roster that featured very few blue-chip recruits.
Sarkisian also praised Cignetti's approach to training and practice schedules. Indiana's training regimen has been well-documented, as Cignetti's plan focuses on not overdoing things in order to keep players fresh and most importantly -- healthy. It's an approach that some coaches are now trying to emulate.
Indiana has plenty of staying power under Curt Cignetti
A lot of big names from last year's title team such as Fernando Mendoza, Elijah Sarratt, Omar Cooper Jr, D'Angelo Ponds, Kaelon Black, and Roman Hemby are off to the NFL, but Cignetti has effectively re-vamped Indiana's roster through the transfer portal.
And don't forget that key contributors such as WR Charlie Becker, OT Carter Smith, LB Rolijah Hardy, and DT Tyrique Tucker are returning to Bloomington.
With Cignetti leading the way, Indiana has become the program of envy for teams across the country. Indiana's success in recent seasons has also put pressure on other coaches to win immediately. Cignetti needed little time to turn Indiana into a national contender, and he did it without having the luxury of endless resources like a handful of Power 4 teams out there. After a historic campaign last season, the Hoosiers are poised for another monster season in 2026.
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