How new IU football coach Curt Cignetti will approach recruiting, transfer portal

BLOOMINGTON — In the modern age of college football, coaching changes almost certainly mean a flock of transfers coming into and out of a program. IU’s firing of Tom Allen and hiring of former James Madison coach Curt Cignetti means a new roster needs to be put together.

Cignetti has a tall task ahead of him in the transfer portal. He understands he has work to do to field a competitive team right away.

“You have to engage in the portal because everybody's turning over at least 30% of their roster right now,” Cignetti said in his introductory news conference. “If you don’t, you got no chance.”

Indiana already has a large chunk of its starters in the transfer portal, most notably starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby and lead wide receiver Donaven McCulley. Cignetti will surely look to get some players to stay in Bloomington, but many of them will need to be replaced.

Behind the scenes: How Curt Cignetti became the IU coach in 96 hours

Doyel: New IU coach already planning for 2024 Big Ten title game in Indy

Who Cignetti replaces IU’s departing transfers with will be interesting to track. How many players from JMU will he bring along? How many players will he look to add from the FCS level and below? These questions are yet to be answered, but Cignetti doesn’t seem too enamored with where transfers come from.

“My worst transfers at James Madison were Power 5 guys,” Cignetti said.

Cignetti pointed to the success of Todd Centeio and Jordan McCloud, his last two quarterbacks at JMU. After time at Temple and Colorado State, Centeio spent his final year of eligibility at JMU in 2022. Centeio had 32 total touchdowns and was the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year in 2022.

McCloud won Sun Belt Player of the Year on Thursday after a regular season where he had 2697 passing yards, threw 32 touchdowns, completed 69% of his passes, threw only eight interceptions and rushed for eight touchdowns. McCloud — who has a year of eligibility left and could be an IU target — came to JMU after stints at Arizona and USF.

When it comes to bringing players in, Cignetti doesn’t seem to care about where they came from or the perception of a player. This extends to recruiting high schoolers. Cignetti vehemently challenged star ratings given to high school players.

“I have never ever looked at a star,” Cignetti said. “I mean, do you really think some guy who puts stars on kids knows what he's talking about compared to coaches who are watching hours and hours of tape on kids?

"Now, if you want to get ratings and you want to go recruit the guys with the most stars — because there's always gonna be somebody who shouldn't have four stars that’s going to be available — you can go ahead and do that. That’s not how we operate.”

Cignetti trusts his judgment over what online ratings say. On multiple occasions, IU’s new coach said he holds players’ high school transcripts in high regard to see how many absences the player has.

Athletes’ name, image and likeness has played an influential role in the portal and recruiting since 2021. Coaching staffs and athletic departments must use their resources wisely to lure quality players.

“Use it as smart and efficiently as possible,” Cignetti said. “It’s mathematics. Here's what you got. You rank your team. Here are our best players, and here's what this guy should get and that guy should get. … It’s really not that hard.”

IU’s NIL resources have stepped up for the football program since Allen’s dismissal, and it played a key factor in Cignetti coming to IU.

“I’d say it's a new day in college athletics and college football,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said on Thursday. “The donors that have stepped up for our collectives have been huge, and it's a big part of this, and it’s a big, big part of this.”

The powerhouses in the Big Ten will still have more resources and donorship than Indiana. Cignetti doesn’t seem concerned about that challenge.

“There's gonna be people in this conference that probably have more resources than we do, but that's not detrimental. You gotta take the right kind of guys, you gotta develop them (and) form the intangibles on your football team.”

Cignetti and his incoming assistants have to re-tool IU’s squad immediately. The transfer portal is officially open and active starting Monday, so this weekend will be critical for the new staff. What Cignetti does in the coming days could decide IU’s success in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on recruiting, transfer portal