Curt Cignetti wasn’t interested in getting dragged into Purdue’s latest self-inflicted mess.
When asked whether he had a response to new Boilermakers athletic director Tommy McClelland’s jab at Indiana, the Hoosiers coach kept it short.
“Not really,” Cignetti said.
McClelland had set off a wave of reaction last week with a line aimed at recruits and current players: “Every recruit, every current student-athlete will hear this message repeatedly, we are here to win championships,” McClelland said. “If you don't want to win championships, go to Indiana.”
The remark blew up quickly, and not in the way Purdue’s new AD likely wanted. IU fans pushed back on social media, pointing to Indiana’s recent perfect season and the Hoosiers’ run of success in the rivalry under Cignetti.
McClelland acknowledged the misfire the next day while appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“Every now and then, you line it up on the first tee and you're really excited, about that round; and I put it right in the water,” McClelland said. “I got 18 more holes to play.”
For Cignetti and Indiana, the numbers have done plenty of talking already. The Hoosiers are 2-0 against Purdue since Cignetti arrived in Bloomington, outscoring the Boilermakers 122-3 over that two-year stretch, the largest margin of victory in the rivalry over a two-year span since the 1800's. Indiana’s latest win over Purdue also helped clinch a spot in the Big Ten title game after the Hoosiers finished the regular season undefeated.
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The striking part is how quickly the picture changed from there. Indiana turned around under Cignetti in a big way, making a College Football Playoff appearance in his first year before reaching the sports summit with a national championship in 2025, and now the program enters 2026 trying to prove that run was the start of something lasting rather than a one-year surge. [Read more 🡒]