Curt Cignetti dreamed bigger, and now Indiana football is living that dream

EUGENE, Ore. — When it finally ended — when the meaningless heave from Oregon quarterback Dante Moore rattled between bodies and dropped to the Autzen Stadium turf — wave upon wave of deliriously defiant Hoosiers raced toward the west end zone, toward a mob of ebullient Indiana fans that had flown across the country and were now inching ever closer to the front row, encroaching on territory long ago vacated by dejected Ducks supporters. 

Some of Indiana’s players promptly hoisted themselves atop the railing like a modified Lambeau Leap. Others raised their hands and pointed at familiar faces in the stands. Everyone sang, clapped and danced as the fight song blared.

And then, after completing a brief postgame interview at midfield, the man that made all of this possible — the architect behind the most radical transformation college football has ever seen, a metamorphosis that spun the program with more losses than anyone in Division I history into a legitimate national championship contender — strode over for the chance to bask in everything he’s built. 

“Cig! Cig! Cig!” the Indiana faithful shrieked, showering their 64-year-old savior in adoration. And when that particular chant had exhausted its lifespan, the Hoosiers immediately launched into another: “Curt Cig-net-ti! Curt Cig-net-ti!” they screamed, stretching their head coach’s surname into three sonorous syllables. 

He was the only man in the country whose dreams were grand enough to even envision something so farfetched, especially at a school where basketball was — and always will be — the main attraction. That he dragged the hapless Hoosiers from there to here in fewer than two seasons, the first of which included a trip to the College Football Playoff, will live forever in the sport’s annals. 

“Cig is a little bit of a unicorn,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said as the waning seconds of Indiana’s stunning, stupendous, 30-20 victory over No. 3 Oregon, which entered the weekend clutching the nation’s longest home winning streak, expired on an unforgettable Saturday afternoon in Eugene, where a crowd of 59,625 witnessed the finest football moment these Hoosiers have ever experienced. “I mean, he’s special, obviously. We’re so fortunate to have him. He’s just perfect for us. Just couldn’t be more proud of him. Everything he said in his interview, he has done. Everything.”

It was a list that included overhauling the culture for a program that, prior to his arrival ahead of the 2024 campaign, had endured 26 losing seasons in the last 29 years, an agonizingly long epoch of futility that included seven head coaches, three winless conference slates and zero postseason victories. 

Cignetti, who had orchestrated incredible revivals at far-flung places like Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison, all of whom he took to the playoffs on multiple occasions, was also tasked with building a roster that could compete in an expanded Big Ten and mobilizing the kind of nonstop fundraising needed to retain the players worth keeping. To anyone outside the Indiana program — and particularly those who had grown accustomed to Indiana’s annual thumpings at the hands of Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State — the prospects for such a turnaround seemed imaginative at best and impossible at worst. 

Cignetti’s engineering of this fairytale, which might well include an undefeated 2025 season given Indiana’s favorable remaining schedule, emerged from a recipe that is equal parts talent, timing and sheer force of will. Though Cignetti had never been the head coach at a Power 4 program, Dolson hired him at a time when the transfer portal and legalized athlete compensation made it possible to integrate scores of new faces all at once. Cignetti brought with him from James Madison more than a dozen primary contributors who quickly formed the backbone of Indiana’s rebuild, both in terms of their on-field production the last two seasons and their assistance in integrating Cignetti’s methodology. 

That nucleus, coupled with Cignetti’s enviable staff continuity, his knack for player development and a shrewd eye for talent — with the latter bringing the Hoosiers back-to-back game changers at quarterback in Kurtis Rourke from Ohio last year and Fernando Mendoza from Cal this year — has allowed Indiana to thrive despite a roster that still ranks 72nd in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite. That’s three spots ahead of Toledo, four spots ahead of Texas State and five spots ahead of Georgia State.

Cignetti’s feat is even more stunning when juxtaposed with a handful of his coaching colleagues who are floundering despite having more resources than Indiana could ever imagine — a searing truth that played out in real time on Saturday afternoon when Penn State and its embattled leader, James Franklin, suffered a stunning loss to Northwestern as the Hoosiers limited mighty Oregon to just 267 yards of total offense and notched a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions. The same general principle holds true for Steve Sarkisian at Texas, Lincoln Riley at USC, Billy Napier at Florida and Mike Norvell at Florida State.

“When we first got here,” said linebacker Aiden Fisher, who followed Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana, “all this team knew was losing football. We were not used to be being in big games. We’re used to losing the games and just kind of being, like, the punching bag of the Big Ten. I think we did a great job as soon as we got here of changing the way Indiana thinks, changing the way we think as individuals. 

“[Now] We are ready for games like this. That’s why we come to Indiana. You want to play in the higher-ranked games, you want to win the higher-ranked games, and you want to play with someone like Coach Sage who believes in himself so much that it trickles down to his players. “This program is in a really good place right now with Coach Sage at the helm and how much he believes in his players and how much we believe in him.”

They believed in Cignetti the day the legions — hordes of them — arrived here before dawn for what was supposed to be Oregon’s second straight win against a top-10 opponent, having previously beaten No. 10. 3 Penn State before the bye week. The Ducks faithful braved intermittent bouts of fog and drizzle to enjoy the game day festivities, only to see head coach Dan Lanning strip off his jacket, hoodie and undershirt to stand shirtless on national television, all while the temperature hovered in the mid-40s at that hour.

Fans were directed to their places hours earlier by dozens of motorcycle-riding police officers whose neon green helmets were designed to mimic those worn by ducks. Their procession carried them toward Autzen Stadium shortly before the 12:30 p.m. home kickoff via a massive crane from which an Oregon state flag hung on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with a “Just Do It” sign aligned vertically along the spine of the machine.

The phrase, raised by Nike, whose billionaire founder, Phil Knight, remains the program’s deepest benefactor, is emblematic of the Ducks’ rise to college football’s elite level — especially since the advent of name, image and likeness compensation for athletes, with hordes of blue-chip recruits eager to play for Lanning and a forward-thinking system that has produced 18 draft picks over the past two years. Lanning’s high school recruiting and transfer portal classes ranked in the top five nationally during the same time frame that established Oregon as the only Big Ten program capable of matching or perhaps surpassing Ohio State when it comes to player acquisition.

However, it was Cignetti’s gray group that harassed the high-flying Ducks when it mattered most Saturday afternoon, producing the final 10 points in a game that was tied 20-20 with 12:42 remaining. It was Mendoza who threw a beautiful back-shoulder pass to Elijah Sarratt — another Cignetti disciple of James Madison — for the go-ahead touchdown with 6:23 remaining. And it was veteran safety Louis Moore, who began his career at Indiana in 2022 and then left for Ole Miss two years later, who grabbed the game-clinching interception now that he’s back with the Hoosiers for a second round, eager to rejoin what Cignetti is building.

“The most important thing for me is our mentality in this match,” Cignetti said. “We believed, expected and prepared for it and were able to handle the ups and downs of the game without backing down or showing frustration or anxiety. That was the one thing you don’t know.” [about your team] So play the game. We passed this test.”

They pulled it off so convincingly that Indiana supporters flocked to the stadium for a chance to join in the celebration. A crowd of people gathered behind Cignetti as he was being interviewed by the on-site broadcast crew. Several people in Hoosier red wanted to tear down the goal posts and take the pieces to Bloomington. One fan called on the school administration to increase Cignetti’s pay to $20 million or $30 million per year if that is what is needed to keep him. “It doesn’t matter what it costs,” the man shouted. “Pay him!”

And after what happened here on Saturday, when Cignetti notched the greatest win in school history, there’s no doubt the Hoosiers will hold onto their unicorn for as long as possible.

Michael Cohen Covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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