2026 IUFB Season

[Pagoda]

10 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Season tickets have been secured!!! So pumped. Very reasonably priced too, imo, coming off a natty. 

Good conference slate this year.  OSU is a mega game.  USC will be a CFP hopeful.  The Bucket Game is at home.  NW is interesting with Aidan Chiles and Chip.  Minny is always a decent midpack team.

I know the non-con is cupcakes, but clearly it's Cig strategy to have those games to prep the team and keep them fresh.

[Brass Cannon]

12 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Good conference slate this year.  OSU is a mega game.  USC will be a CFP hopeful.  The Bucket Game is at home.  NW is interesting with Aidan Chiles and Chip.  Minny is always a decent midpack team.

I know the non-con is cupcakes, but clearly it's Cig strategy to have those games to prep the team and keep them fresh.

This year could result in a crazy stat.  If we win all our games Cig will be the only conference coach to ever have a winning record against all the other schools in the 18 team big ten 

[TTT]

IU football is finally going to have a modern day coach to go out with overall winning record….and conference winning record…..and a bowl games winning record….at least one conference championship and maybe more….and at least one national championship and maybe more….when he completes his time at IU….a Great big winning record.

[JSHoosier]

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/it-doesnt-sound-like-iu-football-dc-bryant-haines-is-in-a-hurry-to-become-a-head-coach/

[Pagoda]

40 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/it-doesnt-sound-like-iu-football-dc-bryant-haines-is-in-a-hurry-to-become-a-head-coach/

I get people can change their mind, but this is great news.

These comments cause people to bring up the idea he could be Cig's successor.  It's probably unlikely, and the coach in waiting thing doesn't usually work, but Cig's program has a track record of pulling off the unlikely.  Would I be excited about a phenomenal DC with 20 years of Cig training taking over?  Yes I would.

[Brass Cannon]

37 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/it-doesnt-sound-like-iu-football-dc-bryant-haines-is-in-a-hurry-to-become-a-head-coach/

Coach in waiting please let it be 

[CSP]

20 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Good conference slate this year.  OSU is a mega game.  USC will be a CFP hopeful.  The Bucket Game is at home.  NW is interesting with Aidan Chiles and Chip.  Minny is always a decent midpack team.

I know the non-con is cupcakes, but clearly it's Cig strategy to have those games to prep the team and keep them fresh.

Well... 

UNT did lose their coach, but when scheduled them they still had him.. they finished 41st in the FPI this year... ahead of 25+ power 4 schools. Old Dominion finished 49th in FPI this year. 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, CSP said:

Well... 

UNT did lose their coach, but when scheduled them they still had him.. they finished 41st in the FPI this year... ahead of 25+ power 4 schools. Old Dominion finished 49th in FPI this year. 

UNT also lost their very accomplished QB, and many of their key players to OK State

[Aaron]

On 2/24/2026 at 6:11 PM, Hovadipo said:

2026 season tickets appear to have sold out for new buyers. 

This was inevitable. To me the big question is if the team wins nine games and goes to a nice bowl can they sell out season tickets for 2027. 

As I have talked about so many times, our fans can be more frontrunning than most. I hope the corner has been turned here and this is a yearly occurrence now. For everyone who wants to continue being good at all sports, the way to do this is to fill your football stadium all the time so it can be expanded.

We are in a huge test if this is another IU sport where fans are frontrunners swept up in the euphoria and will give up the second the team is not elite, or a corner has been turned.

Hope its the latter. Fear the former.

[Pagoda]

41 minutes ago, Aaron said:

This was inevitable. To me the big question is if the team wins nine games and goes to a nice bowl can they sell out season tickets for 2027. 

As I have talked about so many times, our fans can be more frontrunning than most. I hope the corner has been turned here and this is a yearly occurrence now. For everyone who wants to continue being good at all sports, the way to do this is to fill your football stadium all the time so it can be expanded.

We are in a huge test if this is another IU sport where fans are frontrunners swept up in the euphoria and will give up the second the team is not elite, or a corner has been turned.

Hope its the latter. Fear the former.

I think you make a good observation on how IU fans can be sometimes.  Not always, but sometimes.

I'm a little more hopeful this time around with football.

I agree fans have been a bit finicky after decent stretches like Mallory or Allen.  But, I do think it's fair to say when you're more or less the worst D1 program, it requires something pretty convincing both in results and duration to recondition the fanbase.  After decade long cold-streaks, blips of decent play over a few years aren't always enough.

We've had the convincing moments in '24 and '25.  I'm guessing Cig will have some non-CFP seasons here (duh).  But I don't think fans are going to give up hope when that happens.  They believe in Cig (not hard to do lol), and football is the primary sport in this country, which helps.

I'm not going to worry about this now, but I think the big moment will be when Cig retires.  All "football schools" had stretches of success that created their fanbase and culture of attending games.  No fanbase grows when the program stinks.  For most football schools that happened many decades ago.  I think that can happen for us now,  it would be the Cig Era from the mid-2020's to hopefully the mid-2030's.  8-10 years of exciting football should have our FB fanbase built up with momentum.  Whoever follows Cig won't be as good, but they need to be decent, or else everyone will think Cig was a one-off aberration and we could backslide.  

I think the key will be building up IUFB over the next 5-10 years so our brand, stadium, facilities, and sustainable resources are all quite good for the next coach.  We're off to a good start.  IU has certainly figured out how to invest in football, and if Scott and the leaders of IU keep prioritizing football, we can maintain momentum post-Cig. 

One way to really improve our chances of continued to success is when Cig retires, get him into some sort of part-time advisory role with football where he helps with hires and strategic decisions.  Heck -- he can advise on the whole athletic dept if he wants!  I am pretty convinced this would be one of the best things imaginable for IU athletics.  Keeping Cig's skills and influence around even off the field will lead to more good results, he's one of a kind.

[Brass Cannon]

4 hours ago, Pagoda said:

I think you make a good observation on how IU fans can be sometimes.  Not always, but sometimes.

I'm a little more hopeful this time around with football.

I agree fans have been a bit finicky after decent stretches like Mallory or Allen.  But, I do think it's fair to say when you're more or less the worst D1 program, it requires something pretty convincing both in results and duration to recondition the fanbase.  After decade long cold-streaks, blips of decent play over a few years aren't always enough.

We've had the convincing moments in '24 and '25.  I'm guessing Cig will have some non-CFP seasons here (duh).  But I don't think fans are going to give up hope when that happens.  They believe in Cig (not hard to do lol), and football is the primary sport in this country, which helps.

I'm not going to worry about this now, but I think the big moment will be when Cig retires.  All "football schools" had stretches of success that created their fanbase and culture of attending games.  No fanbase grows when the program stinks.  For most football schools that happened many decades ago.  I think that can happen for us now,  it would be the Cig Era from the mid-2020's to hopefully the mid-2030's.  8-10 years of exciting football should have our FB fanbase built up with momentum.  Whoever follows Cig won't be as good, but they need to be decent, or else everyone will think Cig was a one-off aberration and we could backslide.  

I think the key will be building up IUFB over the next 5-10 years so our brand, stadium, facilities, and sustainable resources are all quite good for the next coach.  We're off to a good start.  IU has certainly figured out how to invest in football, and if Scott and the leaders of IU keep prioritizing football, we can maintain momentum post-Cig. 

One way to really improve our chances of continued to success is when Cig retires, get him into some sort of part-time advisory role with football where he helps with hires and strategic decisions.  Heck -- he can advise on the whole athletic dept if he wants!  I am pretty convinced this would be one of the best things imaginable for IU athletics.  Keeping Cig's skills and influence around even off the field will lead to more good results, he's one of a kind.

Honestly when Cig is ready to hang it up I would ask him if he wants to transition to more of a GM style role. He’s already doing it. But cutting out the rest of the work would be a way to ease into retirement. Even if just for a few years would be big for continuity 

[Lebowski]

When the dust settles and the historians write about the football program at Indiana University they will all point to the day Pam Whitten was hired. She is the catalyst, the general that gave the marching orders to her athletic director, and the reason we still have Curt Cignetti and his staff still coaching in Bloomington, Indiana. For the first time in 57 years the program is going into a football season with a sold out Memorial Stadium. We continue to see 'first time' accomplishments and everything can be pointed back to Pam Whitten. 

As long as Indiana University continues to support and prioritize the football program it won't matter who's coaching when it's all said and done. Coaches will want to coach in 812 and I'm here for it. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

On 3/1/2026 at 9:46 AM, Aaron said:

This was inevitable. To me the big question is if the team wins nine games and goes to a nice bowl can they sell out season tickets for 2027. 

As I have talked about so many times, our fans can be more frontrunning than most. I hope the corner has been turned here and this is a yearly occurrence now. For everyone who wants to continue being good at all sports, the way to do this is to fill your football stadium all the time so it can be expanded.

We are in a huge test if this is another IU sport where fans are frontrunners swept up in the euphoria and will give up the second the team is not elite, or a corner has been turned.

Hope its the latter. Fear the former.

I’ll be honest… I’ve been spoiled so much the past two years that I’d be disappointed by a 8-4, 9-3 finish and solid bowl game. I 100% understand now why OSU, Alabama, etc. fans are the way that they are.

With that said, I love college football so much that I’d still be fully on board if we regress to being good but not great. I think most fans are starving so much for a winner that they would be too. We’re certainly not looking like we’ll to get a winner in basketball anytime soon, and a “just good” IUFB would benefit in that scenario.