Coach Curt Cignetti to INDIANA

[iuthruandthru 110]

1 minute ago, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

Man that's a bad take.

I wish I could fail at my job but note what a great leader I am of the men and women on my team in order to keep my job lol 

[8bucks 6,465]

Just now, iuthruandthru said:

I wish I could fail at my job but note what a great leader I am of the men and women on my team in order to keep my job lol 

There are a lot of responsibilities for a coach. TA definitely is failing with assistant coach decisions, coaching and building a winning team but it is good to see that he still seems to have support from his players. Also glad that we don’t have a terrible culture of problem kids getting in major trouble.  

[Artie86 1,968]

I just talked to my guy good friend in Bloomington. He was my old college roommate. He worked for IU in sports management and had several connections with former IU players. I just thought I would ask what he thought or heard… This was was his reply and only a rumor of what he heard. Mind you, this is what he has heard, but he said who knows. Take it for what it’s worth. He said his source is from inside athletics…

The rumor over the last few weeks…  Is that Allen will be fired and his replacement is Antwaan Randall El. Apparently it’s a done deal.  
Allen is a good guy and incredible values but unfortunately that doesn’t win games. 

He will end up a defensive coordinator somewhere. Another rumor is Southern Cal is interested in him for the DC job.

[iuthruandthru 110]

2 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

There are a lot of responsibilities for a coach. TA definitely is failing with assistant coach decisions, coaching and building a winning team but it is good to see that he still seems to have support from his players. Also glad that we don’t have a terrible culture of problem kids getting in major trouble.  

Fair, but I would also say he’s loyal to a fault.  In particular with his coaches.  I talked to a few players families and I would tell you there was a reason a lot of veteran players left after last year.

[Gahoosierfan 274]

Dolson needs to be fired also. He is the @@@ that a couple of years ago gave Allen a big raise and contract extension which will cost IU a fortune.

[8bucks 6,465]

5 minutes ago, Gahoosierfan said:

Dolson needs to be fired also. He is the @@@ that a couple of years ago gave Allen a big raise and contract extension which will cost IU a fortune.

Too long probably and the buyout is a killer but to that point he had Indiana in a position we have not been in for a long long time. The massive reversal of fortune/success had been extraordinary.  Just amazing how quickly things have fallen apart 

[DarkKnight93 17]

3 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Too long probably and the buyout is a killer but to that point he had Indiana in a position we have not been in for a long long time. The massive reversal of fortune/success had been extraordinary.  Just amazing how quickly things have fallen apart 

Yeah everyone is mad about the extension/buyout but imagine being in Dolson’s shoes and letting the coach with the most successful season in IUFB history walk out the door. Everyone would’ve been calling for him to be fired back then. 

[Hovadipo 56,327]

2 minutes ago, DarkKnight93 said:

Yeah everyone is mad about the extension/buyout but imagine being in Dolson’s shoes and letting the coach with the most successful season in IUFB history walk out the door. Everyone would’ve been calling for him to be fired back then. 

“No way anyone wanted him” responses incoming, but you’re exactly right and schools were calling whether anyone wants to believe it or not.

I guess it’s just easier to be pissed at everyone and everything than to say “eh, didn’t work out…not my money!” and move on. 

[OliviaPope40 6,532]

[IndyResident16 567]

12 minutes ago, DarkKnight93 said:

Yeah everyone is mad about the extension/buyout but imagine being in Dolson’s shoes and letting the coach with the most successful season in IUFB history walk out the door. Everyone would’ve been calling for him to be fired back then. 

Where was he going?

[DarkKnight93 17]

5 minutes ago, IndyResident16 said:

Where was he going?

Surely no bigger/more prominent football school was interested in the guy that led IU (the school with the most cfb losses in NCAA history in case you forgot) to an 8-5 season followed by a 6-2 record, right?

[IndyResident16 567]

10 minutes ago, DarkKnight93 said:

Surely no bigger/more prominent football school was interested in the guy that led IU (the school with the most cfb losses in NCAA history in case you forgot) to an 8-5 season followed by a 6-2 record, right?

I’m genuinely asking? A contract extension was warranted, no doubt. But while making him unpoachable, Dolson made him unfirable without serious ramifications by fully guaranteeing his buyout. I don’t know anybody outside of OSU, Bama, etc who have paid $30 million just to hire Allen away from IU on top of paying him another $30-40 million in salary. 14-7 is a phenomenal two year run for IU standards, but a $60 million investment for another program during a global pandemic? Nonsense. 
 

Dolson shouldn’t have a job.

[8bucks 6,465]

4 minutes ago, DarkKnight93 said:

Surely no bigger/more prominent football school was interested in the guy that led IU (the school with the most cfb losses in NCAA history in case you forgot) to an 8-5 season followed by a 6-2 record, right?

And had that 6-2 team ranked in the top 10 during the season to finish the season ranked 12th.  
 

[Hoosierfan2017 21,508]

People would say all the time how great hiring someone like Tom Allen is because “if he succeeds at Indiana he’ll stay forever!”

If giving him a top 5 buyout in the entire country was the only way to get him to stay, how much does his ‘willingness to stay’ really matter? Giving him such an enormous buyout was a horrible decision. 

[8bucks 6,465]

Just now, Hoosierfan2017 said:

People would say all the time how great hiring someone like Tom Allen is because “if he succeeds at Indiana he’ll stay forever!”

If giving him a top 5 buyout in the entire country was the only way to get him to stay. How much does his ‘willingness to stay’ really matter? Giving him such an enormous buyout was a horrible decision. 

Do you think IU should invest heavily in the football program?  Who would you recommend we hire that has a better resume than TA after the 2020 season?  
 

[iuthruandthru 110]

17 minutes ago, IndyResident16 said:

Where was he going?

Wasn’t FSU open at that time?  I feel like a Florida school was potentially eyeing him.

[IndyResident16 567]

2 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Do you think IU should invest heavily in the football program?  Who would you recommend we hire that has a better resume than TA after the 2020 season?  
 

You can invest heavily in the program without giving out contracts with asinine buyout clauses.

[IndyResident16 567]

2 minutes ago, iuthruandthru said:

Wasn’t FSU open at that time?  I feel like a Florida school was potentially eyeing him.

Did they offer him the job? Pretty sure Dolson panicked and later acted like he was the smartest guy in the room.

[Hoosierfan2017 21,508]

4 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Do you think IU should invest heavily in the football program?  Who would you recommend we hire that has a better resume than TA after the 2020 season?  
 

Heading into the 2021 season, Tom Allen had the 4th biggest buyout in all of college football. The top 5 at that time? Jimbo Fisher, Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, Tom Allen, and Ryan Day. One of those 5 is not like the others… 

 https://247sports.com/longformarticle/college-football-coaching-buyout-ranking-the-10-most-expensive-jimbo-fisher-dabo-swinney-nick-saban-ryan-day-173603213/amp/
 

Surely there’s a middle ground between “investing heavily in the program” and doing what IU did after the 2020 season. An AD shouldn’t allow himself to become a prisoner of the moment. The 2019 team didn’t beat a single team with a winning record and the 2020 season was played under utterly bizarre circumstances. Our AD let his emotions guide him and gave Allen a bigger buyout than OSU had for Ryan Day. The other schools on that top 5 list can easily afford huge buyouts. IU, not so much. The AD’s horrible decision after 2020 is the only reason it’s even a question whether they’re going to fire a guy who has went 3-24 in conference play over his last three seasons. At any other P5 program it wouldn’t even be a question that he’s gone. 

[8bucks 6,465]

1 minute ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Heading into the 2021 season, Tom Allen had the 4th biggest buyout in all of college football. The top 5 at that time? Jimbo Fisher, Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, Tom Allen, and Ryan Day. One of those 5 is not like the others… 

 https://247sports.com/longformarticle/college-football-coaching-buyout-ranking-the-10-most-expensive-jimbo-fisher-dabo-swinney-nick-saban-ryan-day-173603213/amp/
 

Surely there’s a middle ground between “investing heavily in the program” and doing what IU did after the 2020 season. An AD shouldn’t allow himself to become a prisoner of the moment. The 2019 team didn’t beat a single team with a winning record and the 2020 season was played under utterly bizarre circumstances. Our AD let his emotions guide him and gave Allen a bigger buyout than OSU had for Ryan Day. The other schools on that top 5 list can easily afford huge buyouts. IU, not so much. The AD’s horrible decision after 2020 is the only reason it’s even a question whether they’re going to fire a guy who has went 3-24 in conference play over his last three seasons. At any other P5 program it wouldn’t even be a question that he’s gone. 

This is a fair summary. I would argue that IU may have to pay a larger buyout that other schools if we want to keep what we think is a great coach. IF we have to keep TA another year because of this then Dolson’s seat should be extremely hot. But if he is able to get alumni on board to help with this and build the program the right way then he has done his job.  I am sure he had a lot of influential people asking the same questions. His job now is to rally these donors and find the right coach for IU football. Big job for sure and time will tell if he did that or not.