Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Turnaround Is More Than a Cinderella Story - It’s Historic
Indiana football has been many things over the years - gritty, underdog, overlooked. But under Curt Cignetti, it’s become something it’s never been before: elite. And now, for the second straight season, Cignetti has been named the Associated Press Coach of the Year, becoming the first back-to-back winner since the award’s inception in 1998.
That’s not just a nice line in the résumé. It’s a reflection of one of the most dramatic program turnarounds college football has seen in decades.
Let’s be clear: Indiana wasn’t just a struggling program before Cignetti took over - it was the losingest program in major college football history. In 2022, the Hoosiers became the first FBS team to hit 700 all-time losses.
That’s the kind of stat that sticks to a program like a scar. And yet, in just two seasons, Cignetti has flipped the narrative completely.
Since arriving from James Madison, where he built a powerhouse at the Championship Subdivision level, Cignetti has gone 24-2 at Indiana. That’s not just winning - that’s rewriting the program’s identity.
Last season, Indiana shocked the college football world by starting 10-0, climbing to No. 5 in the AP Top 25, and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff. That alone would’ve been enough to cement Cignetti’s place in Hoosier lore.
But this year? He took it even further.
Indiana is 13-0. Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967.
Sitting atop the AP poll for the first time ever. And heading into the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed.
This isn’t just a good season - it’s a historic one. And it’s all happening in a place where 10 wins used to be a pipe dream.
Let’s not overlook what he’s done with individual talent either. Cignetti coached Indiana’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who also earned AP Player of the Year honors. That’s another first for a program that, until recently, was better known for basketball banners than football trophies.
The AP Coach of the Year vote wasn’t close. Cignetti received 47 of 52 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of college football media.
Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea got two votes apiece. Virginia’s Tony Elliott received one.
But this was Cignetti’s award to lose, and he didn’t come close to losing it.
The numbers tell one part of the story. The emotion tells the rest. After Indiana’s 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game - a game that symbolized the program’s arrival on the national stage - Cignetti reflected on what it meant.
“It’s another step we need to take as a program,” he said. “It’s a great win, obviously.
And we’re going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. And a lot of people probably thought that wasn’t possible.
But when you get the right people and you have a plan and they love one another and play for one another and they commit, anything’s possible.”
That’s not coach-speak. That’s a man who’s built something real. In a sport where big names and blue bloods dominate the headlines, Curt Cignetti is proving that the right culture, the right leadership, and a whole lot of belief can still shake up the status quo.
Indiana football isn’t just winning games. It’s making history.
And Cignetti? He’s not just coach of the year - he’s the architect of one of college football’s most remarkable transformations.