5 things to know about new Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football is hiring Curt Cignetti as its new coach.
Cignetti is an offensive-minded coach with experience going back four decades including the last 12 years as a head coach. The Hoosiers are hoping he’s able to reinvigorate a program that’s only one won three games over Power Five opponents since 2021.
Here’s five things to know about IU’s new coach:
RELATED: Indiana football hiring James Madison’s Curt Cignetti as new head coach
His father Frank Cignetti coached under Bobby Bowden
The coaching profession was a family business for the Cignetti’s. His father was Bobby Bowden’s offensive coordinator from 1970-75. He didn’t go with him to Florida State because he ended up being Bowden’s successor at West Virginia. Cignetti would go on to reach the College Football Hall of Fame as the winnest coach in IUP history (182 wins). Before he landed at IUP, he helped design WVU’s football stadium Mountaineer Field as an administrator in the athletic department. “I remember him going through the state politicking to get that thing built,” Curt said, back in 2019.
That Nick Saban connection
Saban hired Cignetti in 2007 to be his receivers coach and recruiting coordinator when he got to Tuscaloosa. The connection with Saban dates back to his father’s time at West Virginia. One of Saban’s first jobs after graduating from Kent State was as a defensive backs coach on Cignetti Sr.’s staff from 1978-79. Curt Cignetti, a then-senior, was the team’s backup quarterback in Saban’s first season with the Mountaineers.
A Tide-al Wave of talent
As Saban’s recruiting coordinator from 2007-2010, Alabama signed linebacker Dont’a Hightower, running back Mark Ingham, receiver Julio Jones, quarterback AJ McCarron, running back Trent Richardson, linebacker C.J. Mosley and cornerback Dee Miliner. Everyone one of them except McCarron was a first round pick and everyone except Jones was a first-team All-American. That group helped Alabama win three national titles.
Cignetti is on a hot streak at quarterback
Cignetti’s days of directly coaching quarterbacks are long gone, but he certainly has an eye for talent. His quarterbacks at James Madison won Offensive Player of the Year in their respective conference in 2019 (Ben DiNucci), 2021 (Cole Johnson) and 2022 (Todd Centeio). His quarterback this season Jordan McCloud had 3,400 passing yards (68.9%) with 32 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. Cignetti has mostly leaned on dual-threat running backs since installing a more RPO-friendly offensive scheme halfway through his tenure at IUP.
Where Cignetti goes, success follows
Cignetti was the second-fastest coach in IUP history to reach 50 wins, his father was the only one to do it quicker. At Elon, he took over a team that had gone 12-45 in the previous five years and reached the postseason in both his seasons there. James Madison was in a better spot when he took the reins, but he still had remarkable success making the leap into the FBS. The Dukes were the best team in the Sun Belt over the last two years without being eligible to compete for the conference championship.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Get to know Indiana football's new football coach Curt Cignetti
