Indiana football’s national championship run wasn’t just a landmark moment for the current roster-it sent waves of pride and reflection through generations of Hoosier alumni who once wore the crimson and cream.
From Pasadena to Atlanta to Miami, former IU players made the journey to witness something they never got to experience during their own playing days: Indiana football at the absolute pinnacle of the sport. For many, it was surreal.
They played in the same stadium, wore the same jersey, and fought for the same program-but watching this team climb to the mountaintop was a different kind of experience. One filled with awe, pride, and maybe a touch of wistfulness.
Bryant Fitzgerald, a former IU safety who played from 2017 to 2022 under Tom Allen, knows that feeling well. Now a coach at Avon High School in Indianapolis-his alma mater-Fitzgerald has stayed close to the game and even closer to the program. And while he’s proud of the foundation he helped build, he can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like to play under Curt Cignetti.
“I always tell my mom, we always joke, I’m like, ‘Man, I wish I was born three years later so I could be a part of this Curt Cignetti train,’” Fitzgerald said. “No offense to coach Allen, one of my favorite coaches of all-time to play for.
I would run through a wall for that man. … But I will say that I would have loved to play for coach Cignetti, though.
I love his mindset, and everything he stands for, for a head coach. I love him.”
That kind of admiration isn’t just lip service. Fitzgerald has been back to Bloomington multiple times over the past two years, including for the electric 2024 matchup against Washington when ESPN’s College GameDay rolled into town.
He saw the buzz firsthand. The atmosphere.
The energy. The belief.
And he recognized something different about this new era of Hoosier football.
“It was refreshing,” he said. “To see Cignetti’s Hoosiers break through the way many thought Allen had the momentum to do-it felt like the program finally got over the hump.”
But Fitzgerald’s perspective goes beyond the sidelines. As a high school coach, he’s getting a front-row seat to one of the most important ripple effects of Indiana’s rise: the recruiting shift.
For years, Indiana was a program that had to fight for attention in its own backyard. Talented in-state prospects often looked elsewhere-Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State-before even considering IU. That’s starting to change.
“It’s not now, ‘What can I do to get an offer?’ It’s, ‘What can I do to get an offer from IU?’”
Fitzgerald explained. “And that’s really never ever really been the standard.
They’re all asking, like, ‘How can I get an offer from IU? Do you have coaches there that I can talk to?
Is there connections you can put me on?’”
That’s the kind of shift that doesn’t just change a season-it changes a program’s trajectory. Local kids are now seeing Indiana not as a fallback, but as a destination. A place where winning big is not only possible-it’s happening.
“Kids are wanting to stay in state, versus going to the Michigans, the Ohio States, and all the other schools that surround us,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s definitely a good sign that coach Cignetti’s starting to change the mindset around for the Indiana recruits.”
Indiana football has long been a program that’s fought for respect. Now, it’s earning it-and not just from the outside world, but from the very players who once carried the banner.
For guys like Fitzgerald, who gave their all during the build-up, seeing the payoff is more than gratifying. It’s proof that the climb was worth it-and that Indiana football has finally arrived.