When No. 1 Indiana lines up against Alabama on January 1, Curt Cignetti won’t just be facing a powerhouse opponent-he’ll be staring down a chapter of his own coaching origin story.
Long before he was leading Indiana into the College Football Playoff, Cignetti was a key figure on Nick Saban’s very first Alabama staff back in 2007. He served as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, and it was during those formative years in Tuscaloosa that Cignetti began shaping the foundation of the program he runs today.
Now in his 60s, Cignetti still credits that stretch under Saban as a turning point in his coaching career. The son of a Hall of Fame head coach, Cignetti already had football in his blood-but Alabama, under Saban, was where he learned how to build a championship culture from the ground up.
“I probably think about it every single day, to be quite honest,” Cignetti said this week, as Indiana prepares for its Rose Bowl showdown with the Crimson Tide. “It had such a big impact in my growth and development.
Philosophically, the program that we run here is probably a lot more the same than different than (Nick Saban’s) Alabama. There’s probably not a day that goes by where I don’t draw from those experiences.”
That connection to Saban isn’t unique to Cignetti-far from it. In fact, Alabama is one of the only CFP quarterfinal teams not currently led by a former Saban assistant.
Georgia’s Kirby Smart was on that same 2007 staff, coaching defensive backs before becoming the Tide’s defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2015. Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding held that same coordinator role from 2018 to 2022.
Miami’s Mario Cristobal oversaw the offensive line from 2013 to 2016. And Oregon’s Dan Lanning got his start as a graduate assistant in Tuscaloosa in 2015.
In other words, the Saban coaching tree isn’t just alive-it’s thriving. And Cignetti is one of its most intriguing branches.
He often references that Alabama blueprint when discussing his own program’s identity: the structure, the discipline, the relentless fight against complacency. Those aren’t just buzzwords-they’re principles he picked up firsthand while watching Saban rebuild the Crimson Tide into a modern dynasty.
“We had a great experience at Alabama,” Cignetti said. “It was a real important part of my journey.
Learned a lot from Coach Saban in terms of organization, standards, stopping complacency. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my time under Nick.”
And now, in a twist of football fate, Cignetti returns to the Rose Bowl-the same venue where he, Saban, and Smart celebrated Alabama’s first national title together back in 2009. Only this time, he’s leading the team on the other sideline.
It’s been a long and winding road to get here. After leaving Alabama, Cignetti took a leap that raised eyebrows at the time-accepting a head coaching job at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The pay was lower. The spotlight dimmer.
Even Saban questioned whether it was the right call.
But Cignetti saw it differently. He wasn’t chasing comfort-he was chasing growth.
“I was just ready for something different,” he said. “I respected his opinion, but I decided to make the move.
I can’t say there weren’t many mornings early on where I wondered what I did because it was such a tremendous, radical change. But at the end of the day, it prepared me for where I am today.”
That preparation has paid off. Cignetti has climbed the coaching ladder with methodical precision, building successful programs at every stop and now guiding Indiana to the sport’s biggest stage.
Come January 1, he’ll face the team that helped shape him. But make no mistake-Cignetti’s not just revisiting the past. He’s trying to write a new chapter, one where Indiana, not Alabama, walks out of the Rose Bowl with a shot at the national title.