Coach Curt Cignetti to INDIANA... Forever and Ever, Amen!

[RaceToTheTop]

14-2.  Went to the D1A championship game

7-1.  Went to the D1A semifinal.

12-2.  Went to the D1A semifinal.

Moved to D1.

Went 8-3.

Went 11-1.

 

He could have moved on from James Madison after any one of the five years he was there.  But he stayed as they transitioned to D1 and then moved on to IU after what I would consider to be completing the job at James Madison -- a top 25 team and into a bowl.  If anything, I'd say he left James Madison later than almost any coach would have given his success there.

[hoopsta007]

Pumping up Coach Cig for a bit to show how impressive his start has been, we haven’t trailed in any of the first three games and have had a lead for over 90% of the time.  Regardless of the schedule that is an amazing stat to me

[Lebowski]

15 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

14-2.  Went to the D1A championship game

7-1.  Went to the D1A semifinal.

12-2.  Went to the D1A semifinal.

Moved to D1.

Went 8-3.

Went 11-1.

 

He could have moved on from James Madison after any one of the five years he was there.  But he stayed as they transitioned to D1 and then moved on to IU after what I would consider to be completing the job at James Madison -- a top 25 team and into a bowl.  If anything, I'd say he left James Madison later than almost any coach would have given his success there.

To be fair, from what I understand most schools didn't want to "take a chance" on him because of his age. So I'm not sure he really had the opportunity to move on from JMU. I also read or heard on a podcast somewhere that Dolson needed to make a pitch to get him at IU. Something to do with NIL etc. etc.. I guess Coach Cig wasn't really interested in the job until Dolson promised the commitment Coach Cig wanted. I could be wrong though. 

What's awesome about the current situation is that we are seeing before our eyes a transformation on who to recruit from the transfer portal. The conventional thinking has been getting P4 players but he didn't really go that route. Instead he went after 'all-star' G5 players. I think this might be a paradigm shift of recruiting in the college football transfer portal that Coach Cig created. And that most likely goes back to him coaching at JMU for so many years. 

[Hovadipo]

14 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

What's awesome about the current situation is that we are seeing before our eyes a transformation on who to recruit from the transfer portal. The conventional thinking has been getting P4 players but he didn't really go that route. Instead he went after 'all-star' G5 players. I think this might be a paradigm shift of recruiting in the college football transfer portal that Coach Cig created. And that most likely goes back to him coaching at JMU for so many years.

Agree and I think this is another example to back up the thought that the gap between the absolute tippy top of P4 to the rest of P4 is much larger than the gap from regular P4 to G6 competition. We replaced a bunch of P4 JAGs (seriously, did we lose anyone that's absolutely tearing it up? Camper is doing ok I guess?) with a bunch of G6 dudes and the early returns are pretty spectacular.

[Magnanimous]

On 9/17/2024 at 10:38 PM, LamarCheeks said:

Not taking anything away from the excitement Cigs has created.  

Hell, I'm pretty excited as well. 

But here's a little perspective. Bill Lynch's record after three games as IU's head coach: 3-0. 

 

Our offense this year is a little more balanced than “James Hardy, go run 30 yards downfield. Kellen - either throw a jump ball to James or scramble after he opened the defense. Marcus Thigpen, don’t get killed running up the middle every ten plays.”

 

 

[hoopsta007]

3 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

 Marcus Thigpen, don’t get killed running up the middle every ten plays.”

 

 

Like clockwork every single first down!

[JSHoosier]

https://apnews.com/article/indiana-hoosiers-charlotte-49ers-e4c85850625f94f8caaaa6643d8066c4

[Demo]

 

Incredibly hard for me to believe that Cig is the sort to respond to random dudes spouting obvious crap on Twitter. But that is, in fact, his account.

[Stuhoo]

32 minutes ago, Demo said:

 

Incredibly hard for me to believe that Cig is the sort to respond to random dudes spouting obvious crap on Twitter. But that is, in fact, his account.

 

Thin skinned when offended? Yup... that seems like it can be our guy! lol There's a whole lot of Bob Knight in Curt Cignetti. A whole lot.

However, I am finding it hard to believe that heading into this big game, Cig's inspirational mantra is:

"We gotta win this here footballin' game to stick it to that 17 year old rat bastard traitor Derik Queen."

 

[CSP]

F Maryland

No shot Cignetti said that in practice lolol 

[rcbowla]

Lots of talk already about Florida, FSU and Arkansas. I don't know what it would take, if anything, to make sure he stays in Bloomington? I don't think $ will be a factor but there's a lot of other factors that IU is lagging behind these programs. Officially already nervous.

[cthomas]

On 9/25/2024 at 2:15 PM, Stuhoo said:

 

Thin skinned when offended? Yup... that seems like it can be our guy! lol There's a whole lot of Bob Knight in Curt Cignetti. A whole lot.

However, I am finding it hard to believe that heading into this big game, Cig's inspirational mantra is:

"We gotta win this here footballin' game to stick it to that 17 year old rat bastard traitor Derik Queen."

 

I'm always down for an opportunity to use "rat bastard". Well done. And yes, when listening CCC I hear a lot of CBK. Hopefully, just the good.

[CSP]

39 minutes ago, rcbowla said:

Lots of talk already about Florida, FSU and Arkansas. I don't know what it would take, if anything, to make sure he stays in Bloomington? I don't think $ will be a factor but there's a lot of other factors that IU is lagging behind these programs. Officially already nervous.

Florida would be stupid not to offer him the house. 

[Lebowski]

3 hours ago, rcbowla said:

Lots of talk already about Florida, FSU and Arkansas. I don't know what it would take, if anything, to make sure he stays in Bloomington? I don't think $ will be a factor but there's a lot of other factors that IU is lagging behind these programs. Officially already nervous.

None of those schools on this list would give him the type of control he currently has.  Maybe Arkansas.  But even that job still has its challenges. Most importantly, if he goes I have faith in the current administration hiring the right guy to replace him.  It's clear they are investing in IUFB, finally! 

 

But I don't think he goes anywhere.  He's here to win a national championship for the school that has the most losses in college football history just to prove a point and give the finger to all those schools that passed up on him in the past. 

[IUHoosier5]

16 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

None of those schools on this list would give him the type of control he currently has.  Maybe Arkansas.  But even that job still has its challenges. Most importantly, if he goes I have faith in the current administration hiring the right guy to replace him.  It's clear they are investing in IUFB, finally! 

 

But I don't think he goes anywhere.  He's here to win a national championship for the school that has the most losses in college football history just to prove a point and give the finger to all those schools that passed up on him in the past. 

Very similar thought process from me. What is sweeter than turning a perennial loser into a winner? I would assume it’s a Curt-Cignetti-like coach’s dream. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

Obviously IU can’t compete with Florida’s resources, but the problem for them is kinda like the problem for iubb. Dan Mullen went 10-3 (5-3), 11-2 (6-2), and 8-4 (8-3), and then got fired for one bad 5-6 season. Now, in addition to schools like Bama, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee, you also have to compete against Texas and Oklahoma. The UF administration will expect you to be as good as those teams on a yearly basis and will fire you if you aren’t.   

Those results make you the greatest coach in IUFB history. It’s unrealistic to expect 10-11 win seasons consistently at IU, but 8 or 9 win seasons are entirely realistic now that divisions are gone. Maybe it’s always been his dream to coach a premier program. If that’s the case, it’ll be hard to keep him given the demand there will be after this season. But the iu job pays him millions of dollars a year to coach in a top 2 conference at a school with low expectations but increasing resources. 

[cybergates]

On 9/25/2024 at 2:15 PM, Stuhoo said:

 

Thin skinned when offended? Yup... that seems like it can be our guy! lol There's a whole lot of Bob Knight in Curt Cignetti. A whole lot.

However, I am finding it hard to believe that heading into this big game, Cig's inspirational mantra is:

"We gotta win this here footballin' game to stick it to that 17 year old rat bastard traitor Derik Queen."

 

Seems like you misread? Coach Cig said it was not true in the comments and Demo let us know it was Coach Cig's account.

[DChoosier]

14 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Maybe it’s always been his dream to coach a premier program. 

None of us truly knows how he visualizes the last 5-7 years of his career but your above statement is the one possibility that makes me nervous. He is an extremely competitive guy, that has moved up the football “food chain”, and very well may want to coach an elite level football program.

On the other hand he might be satisfied maintaining excellence at a program he built like Frank Beamer at Va Tech. Who knows ??

I don’t see him going to a place like Arkansas but FL or FL State might tempt him. That being said….for his stock to be high he still has to prove himself against NB, @MSU, UM and OSU.

[rcbowla]

59 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

None of us truly knows how he visualizes the last 5-7 years of his career but your above statement is the one possibility that makes me nervous. He is an extremely competitive guy, that has moved up the football “food chain”, and very well may want to coach an elite level football program.

On the other hand he might be satisfied maintaining excellence at a program he built like Frank Beamer at Va Tech. Who knows ??

I don’t see him going to a place like Arkansas but FL or FL State might tempt him. That being said….for his stock to be high he still has to prove himself against NB, @MSU, UM and OSU.

You're right about proving himself. For all we know, we still haven't beat anyone good. UCLA certainly seems to be bad and Maryland could be bad as well. Now, I get a completely different feeling watching this team than "just beating bad teams". What I've been watching seems sustainable but we shall see. Enjoying the ride regardless of future decisions and outcomes.

[TheWatShot]

I got to thinking about this the other day: how did Purdue manage to keep Joe Tiller for 12 seasons? I know the latter half of his tenure was pretty pedestrian, but his first four years they were 9-3, 9-4, 7-5 and 8-4 with a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth. Zero chance any Purdue coach makes it past four years with those numbers today; maybe not even past year two. Are programs just that desperate to win? Is social media amplifying more thoughts and desires into existence? I remember hearing that Tiller wasn't an attractive option at that time because of his age, but he was 53 when Purdue hired him, a whole decade younger than Cignetti is now. 

 

I get that times change and we have to change with them, but I don't think I'm ever going to like how certain college athletic programs are nothing but feeder systems for those with more money and prestige.