ESPN’s latest college football coaching rankings have a new name at the top, and it’s not Kirby Smart this time.
For the last two seasons, Smart had owned that No. 1 spot after guiding Georgia to national championships in 2021 and 2022 and keeping the Bulldogs in the sport’s most dominant lane since 2020. Ohio State’s Ryan Day also had a case, with the Buckeyes winning the national championship in 2024 and spending much of last season at No. 1 before the Big Ten Championship Game and a quarterfinal playoff loss knocked them off course.
But ESPN’s reporters went in a different direction for 2026, elevating Indiana’s Curt Cignetti over the sport’s established heavyweights.
The choice comes with a pretty staggering backdrop. In the 125 seasons before Cignetti arrived, Indiana had never won 10 games, had reached nine wins only twice and had just three bowl victories total. Since taking over in Bloomington, he is 27-2 in two seasons and added a national championship last season.
That run is exactly why ESPN’s David Wilson put Cignetti in the top spot.
"We've never seen anything like what Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana, taking the losingest program in college football history to a national title in two years, after an 11-1 season at James Madison in 2023," David Wilson wrote. "... If the definition of an elite coach is someone you'd trust to lead any program anywhere, he's where you start."
There’s a simple reason Cignetti is drawing so much attention: what he has done at Indiana has no real precedent. It’s the kind of turnaround other programs will try to study and copy, even if the obvious problem is that they don’t have Cignetti.
Whether he stays there will come down to whether Indiana can keep this level of success going. For now, though, the résumé is impossible to ignore. Turning one of college football’s most historically unsuccessful programs into a national champion in such a short window is already the kind of coaching achievement that belongs near the top of the sport’s all-time list.
In Other News...
Monshun Sales Just Turned Up The Pressure On Indiana Football
A major recruiting decision is coming into focus for Indiana football, and it has everything to do with Monshun Sales, the highly ranked Lawrence North wide receiver who has become one of the most important names in the Hoosiers' 2027 class. Sales has set his commitment announcement for Friday, July 17, and he will reveal his choice live on The Pat McAfee Show, putting a national spotlight on a recruitment that already carries plenty of weight for Curt Cignetti's program.
Indiana is in the mix with several bluebloods, but this one matters beyond the usual recruiting drama because Sales is the kind of prospect who can change how a class is viewed before it even takes shape. If the Hoosiers can land him, it would send a message on the trail that they can win battles for elite talent close to home and beyond, which is exactly why the coming announcement has turned into a pressure point for Indiana as much as a decision for Sales. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Just Entered A Recruiting Fight Hoosiers Fans Will Notice
Indiana is in the mix for one of the more coveted quarterbacks in the 2028 class, as Lukas Prock of The Hun School of Princeton has trimmed his focus to a small group of finalists. The four-star prospect is already drawing national attention, with more than 30 Power Four offers and a profile that has him among the quarterbacks everyone in the recruiting industry is tracking.
For Indiana, the encouraging part is that Prock has said the Hoosiers are among the programs standing out most to him right now, alongside Ohio State and Notre Dame. He has preferred to wait until after his junior season to make a decision, but the clock may not stay that simple if other quarterbacks start coming off the board this summer. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Nears A Program-Changing Recruiting Decision Fans Have Been Waiting For
Monshun Sales is set to put one of the biggest recruiting decisions in the 2027 class on the calendar, with the five-star wide receiver expected to announce his college commitment on July 17 during the Pat McAfee Show. For Indiana, that alone makes this a notable moment, because Sales is not just another highly rated target. He is one of the top uncommitted prospects in the country and a player with the kind of profile that can change how a program is viewed on the recruiting trail.
Sales is drawing interest from Alabama, Indiana, LSU, Ohio State and Texas, but the latest chatter has centered on a tighter race than the original list suggests. Indiana has been the Rivals Prediction Machine favorite for much of the year, while Texas has made a late push, setting up a finish that has Hoosiers fans watching closely for what could be a defining recruiting win. A commitment in Indianas favor would carry real program significance, and that is exactly why this decision has become must-see television. [Read more 🡒]