INDIANAPOLIS – If first-year Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti embodies one thing, it’s confidence. As he strolls to the podium at Big Ten Media Days in downtown Indianapolis, his 52-9 record in five seasons at James Madison University echoes over the speakers, after which he pulls a piece of paper from his suit jacket and reads his opening statement. After thanking his wife for allowing him to do what he loves, he offers gratitude toward Indiana University president Pamela Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson for their commitment to making Indiana football relevant.
Something is amiss from Cignetti’s previous season-opening press conferences — usually his team is picked to win the conference championship.
“That’s just how it’s been,” Cignetti said.
This time around, his Hoosiers are universally predicted to finish second-to-last in the expanded, 18-team Big Ten. Cignetti has been met with low, rather, nonexistent, preseason expectations before. In 2022, James Madison was picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the Sun Belt East.
The Dukes went on to finish tied with Coastal Carolina for first place after walloping the Chanticleers, 47-7, on the final day of the regular season. While at Elon University, Cignetti turned a team that went 9-37 in the four seasons prior to him arriving into winners of eight in a row while clinching a berth in the CAA title game in 2017.
“I’m not into making predictions,” Cignetti said, smirking. “That’s a historical fact.”
The 2023 Sun Belt Coach of the Year is not one to set the bar low.
“There shouldn’t be any limitations on what we can accomplish,” Cignetti said. “We want to be the best. You don’t bring your kids up telling them to be fourth-best. Bullshit. We want to be the best.”
Since he was hired Nov. 30, 2023, Cignetti has made waves throughout the Big Ten and the greater college football landscape with his brazen belief that he can bring Indiana back to national relevance. After all, the 2020 Hoosiers were a couple of red zone turnovers and a touchdown away from making the Big Ten Championship game. They followed the pandemic season with a 36-game tailspin from 2021-23.
During this stretch, they posted a 9-27 record and went just 3-24 in Big Ten play, leading to the firing of head coach Tom Allen, who is now the defensive coordinator at Penn State. Indiana suffered three consecutive one-score losses to close the 2023 season, falling to Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue by an average of 3.3 points.
“In this business, the margin for error is very slim,” Cignetti said. Including its 33-24 loss at No. 10 Penn State, which was tied with two minutes remaining, Indiana went 2-5 in one-score games in 2023. “Where I come from, we’re pretty darn good at those one-score games.”
The numbers don’t lie: James Madison went 5-1 in games decided by eight points or fewer in 2023. The Dukes only played three one-score games in 2022, winning a pair. Most of Cignetti’s JMU wins were blowouts. In its most recent two meetings with rival Coastal Carolina — played on the same day as the Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket — James Madison outscored the Chanticleers 103-21. Just Google him.
Talk does not win football games — players do. Cignetti is confident in the experienced core he has built primarily through the transfer portal. He added a Big Ten-high 31 scholarship transfers, most of whom followed him from JMU.
That said, projected QB1 Kurtis Rourke (Ohio), running back Justice Ellison (Wake Forest) and wide receiver Myles Price (Texas Tech) are three key portal additions who came over from programs other than Cignetti’s most recent stop.
“We have a lot of guys that have good career production numbers (over) multiple years,” Cignetti said. Indiana has 34 seniors and two graduate students on its roster. “We’ve got a good core group that is accustomed to winning. In this day and age with the portal, you can change things really fast.”
From conversations with Ellison and sixth-year offensive lineman Mike Katic, this fresh mindset has trickled down to the players. Katic, who made his first career start in Indiana’s landmark 36-35 win over No. 8 Penn State on Oct. 24, 2020, has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in an Indiana uniform.
“I had a gross taste in my mouth after the last three years,” Katic said. “I want to get back to the high of winning every week and the positive energy that comes with it. If I can be a part of something that turns this program around, then I’ll leave happier and feel like I did something here.”
After training for a month following the conclusion of the 2023 season, Katic withdrew his name from the NFL Draft and returned to Indiana.
“It’s a different vibe,” Katic said of Cignetti. “A different energy has been going around. The fans are getting behind us. It feels different this year. Everyone’s behind us and I’m really excited.”
With just over a month until the Hoosiers begin the season versus Florida International at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 31, Cignetti does not have to wait much longer to back up his claims that he is the one to fix Indiana football. Fall camp begins next week — perhaps the first step towards Indiana’s first bowl game victory since the 1991 Copper Bowl.
