Curt Cignetti’s Unlikely Rise with Indiana Is a Masterclass in Coaching Persistence
Curt Cignetti isn’t a name that’s traditionally been front and center in the college football conversation. But after leading Indiana to a perfect 15-0 season and a spot in Monday’s national championship game, it’s time to put some serious respect on it. At 64 years old, Cignetti is proving that the coaching ladder isn’t always a straight climb - sometimes it’s a winding, decades-long journey that rewards those who keep grinding.
Cignetti’s coaching roots trace back to his days as a reserve quarterback at West Virginia in the early ’80s, where he shared the field with a young defensive back named Rich Rodriguez. Both would go on to become prominent figures in college football - though not without their share of bumps along the way.
Rodriguez, of course, had his meteoric rise at West Virginia, where he posted three straight seasons of 10+ wins and was even offered the Alabama job in 2008 - a gig he famously turned down. His career took a downturn after stints at Michigan and Arizona, where he was eventually let go.
Cignetti’s path was less headline-grabbing but no less turbulent. He, too, was fired - and not for the last time.
From 2000 to 2006, Cignetti served as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at NC State under Chuck Amato, who had ties to Arizona as a linebackers coach in the early ’80s. That NC State staff included names that would later become familiar across the college and pro landscape. But after the 2006 season, both Amato and Cignetti were shown the door.
It’s a reminder of how volatile the coaching profession can be - and how interconnected it is. Take Mike Canales, for example.
Early in Cignetti’s NC State tenure, Canales was the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, working with a young Philip Rivers. When Canales left for the New York Jets, Cignetti slid into the OC role.
A few years later, Canales resurfaced at Arizona under Mike Stoops, trying to breathe life into an offense that struggled mightily. Despite some improvement, back-to-back 3-8 seasons followed by a 6-6 campaign weren’t enough to save his job.
Canales’ right-hand man during that Arizona stint? A young offensive analyst named Kevin Patullo.
He, too, was dismissed when the staff turned over. But in true football fashion, Patullo kept climbing - eventually reaching the NFL and most recently serving as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator.
That is, until he was fired last week.
This whole coaching carousel - Cignetti, Rodriguez, Canales, Patullo - is a striking example of how unpredictable and unforgiving the business can be. One year you’re calling plays for a future NFL star, the next you’re packing your office. And yet, coaches like Cignetti find a way to keep moving forward.
The numbers back it up: according to The Athletic, 127 NFL coaches have been fired this offseason alone. In the Big 12, 43 coaching changes have been made during this year’s hiring cycle. That’s not just turnover - that’s a full-on churn.
It wasn’t always this way. Back in the late ’80s and ’90s, job security looked a lot different.
At Arizona, Dick Tomey led the program from 1987 to 2000 and only fired two assistant coaches in that entire span. That kind of stability is almost unheard of in today’s game.
Cignetti’s story stands out not just because of where he’s landed, but because of how long it took to get there. He’s not the young hotshot or the flashy up-and-comer. He’s the coach who kept showing up, kept adapting, and finally, built something remarkable in Bloomington.
Now, with a national title on the line, Curt Cignetti isn’t just a feel-good story - he’s a blueprint for resilience in a profession that rarely gives second chances.