BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — 4 phrases got here to Curt Cignetti’s thoughts as he tried to observe alongside from 800 miles away the trail of a twister that was closing in on his youngest little one.
“What have I executed?”
It was April 27, 2011. Cignetti was at a perform at Indiana College of Pennsylvania (IUP), the place he had lately began as head soccer coach, taking a 60 p.c pay reduce from the $250,000 he was making on Nick Saban’s employees at Alabama. His household was nonetheless again in Tuscaloosa ending out the college 12 months. Son Curtis was an Alabama pupil and was bunkering down on campus because the twister — which might find yourself killing 64 folks, six of them college college students — handed close by.
Cignetti’s spouse, Manette, was three and a half hours south in Cellular for daughter Carly’s highschool state tennis match. That left the youngest, daughter Natalie, at a buddy’s home in a neighborhood that was about to be hit immediately. Manette obtained Natalie on the telephone and screamed at her to take cowl. She and her buddy’s household did, within the basement, beneath a desk, as the home was moved off its basis — just a few hundred yards from a home that was utterly obliterated.
“You’re simply sick to your abdomen, you’re helpless,” Manette stated. “In the meantime, Curt needs to be current at this occasion and is nearly having a coronary heart assault attempting to determine what’s occurring.”
The Cignettis had been protected and shortly reunited. However the scare was simply the newest immediate for these 4 phrases: “What have I executed?”
A coach approaching 50 doesn’t go away a job as a recruiting coordinator and receivers coach at one of many high applications within the sport to take over a struggling Division II outfit. That’s a pointy detour from a gradual climb in a troublesome enterprise, because the pay reduce suggests. Manette rejected the concept out of hand.
However Cignetti at all times needed to be a head coach, like his father, and believed he may win at IUP, like his father. He took the doubtful leap. And people early doubts, intensified by the belief that IUP’s soccer assets had gone backward over many years, quickly gave method to validation.
As Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers put together to host Nebraska at sold-out Memorial Stadium on Saturday, in this system’s largest sport in years, he sits at 160 video games coached. He has received 125 of them. When he was launched as IU’s coach in December, after profitable stints at James Madison, Elon and IUP, 4 phrases got here to thoughts after a query in regards to the problem of succeeding at traditionally hapless Indiana.
“I win. Google me,” Cignetti stated.
To date, that’s all he’s executed.
Cignetti’s groups normally win as a result of he normally outperforms the coach on the opposite sideline. For as blunt and assured as he will be, he received’t say it fairly like that. However those that have seen him do his work will.
“He and his coaches offer you all of the solutions, so that you simply know you’re going to win on sport day,” stated Todd Centeio, a quarterback who transferred from Colorado State to James Madison for his last 12 months of eligibility in 2022 and received Solar Belt Offensive Participant of the Yr.
“I don’t know the way he does it, I simply know that I belief it,” stated Indiana tight finish Zach Horton, considered one of a number of outstanding Hoosiers who adopted Cignetti from James Madison.
“Simply extremely smart and raised within the sport,” stated Duke coach Manny Diaz, who labored with Cignetti at NC State.
“He has a completely unbelievable soccer thoughts,” stated Jeff Bourne, the athletic director who employed Cignetti to James Madison from Elon, and whose retirement preceded Cignetti’s transfer to IU. “Watching his scouting of an opponent and preparation of a sport plan was simply actually exceptional. You’d go into some video games feeling like, ‘Properly, I’m unsure about this one,’ after which we’d win and also you’d understand how a lot it needed to do with the preparation of the teaching employees. The best way he analyzes opponents and finds methods to beat them, I noticed it so many instances and it was completely wonderful.”
He noticed it from the opposite aspect on Oct. 6, 2018, when Cignetti’s Elon Phoenix got here to Harrisonburg, Va., as large underdogs in opposition to FCS No. 2-ranked James Madison and pulled a 27-24 shocker. A few months later, JMU coach Mike Houston was off to East Carolina and Cignetti was Bourne’s selection to interchange him and lead JMU’s profitable transition to the FBS.
Indiana is 6-0 and outscoring opponents by 32.7 factors per sport. (James Black / Icon Sportswire through Getty Pictures)
Elon went a modest 14-9 in Cignetti’s two seasons there — however that was a turnaround from 12-45 within the earlier 5 seasons. Cignetti’s components has labored in every single place, and it begins with an eye fixed for the sport and a willingness to make use of each eyes till the lids get heavy to search out an edge.
“He’s at all times in his workplace, at all times watching movie,” stated Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher, one other JMU switch making an instantaneous splash with the Hoosiers.
Cignetti stated the movie projector is on “98 p.c of the time” when he’s in that workplace. Then he goes residence to the teal recliner that has survived all 35 years of the Cignettis’ marriage.
“All he does is sit in his chair and work,” Manette stated.
That’s a part of the components. So is frank, sincere discuss, which Cignetti has discovered works with recruits and gamers alike. That’s the place his late father, Frank Cignetti Sr., is clear in his teaching type.
“He was an excellent man, an excellent chief, an up-front man,” Cignetti stated of his father, who handed away in 2022 at age 84. “He’d at all times inform you what was on his thoughts. You might not prefer it, however he would inform you. Often, to be your greatest, you’ve obtained to listen to belongings you don’t like generally.”
Frank Sr. grew up in Pittsburgh, his dad and mom having moved from Italy, his father a coal miner.
“Everybody was a coal miner or within the metal mill, that’s what everybody did the place I used to be from,” stated Cignetti, the oldest of 4 youngsters of Frank Sr. and Marlene. “Athletics was the way in which out.”
Frank Sr. was an NAIA All-America finish at IUP, and his teaching profession wound from the highschool ranks to West Virginia, the place Bobby Bowden employed him to educate the offensive backfield in 1970. When Bowden left for Florida State in 1976, Frank Sr. succeeded him as head coach.
In 1978, Frank Sr. employed a younger West Virginia native named Nick Saban to educate defensive backs. He additionally battled a uncommon type of most cancers, had his spleen eliminated, was given chemotherapy and final rites twice, and in the end survived. In 1979, he welcomed his eldest son as a quarterback on the crew and was fired after the season with a 17-27 report in 4 years.
“Let’s face it, I’ve obtained a bit of chip on my shoulder and a few of it’s that I needed to go to IUP to be a head coach, that I’ve been underestimated my complete life,” Cignetti stated. “However the Cignetti title drives me too.”
Cignetti stayed as a backup at West Virginia for his last three seasons of eligibility beneath Don Nehlen, who he stated “was nice to me,” after which his teaching profession obtained going as Frank Sr. discovered his candy spot. After a number of years as athletic director at IUP, he took over head teaching duties in 1986 and had an incredible 20-year run — 182-50-1 with a number of deep Division II playoff runs, two to the championship sport.
Frank Jr. performed for his father at IUP and launched into a training profession that has included a number of NFL stops and two stints at hometown faculty Pittsburgh. Curt began at Pitt as a grad assistant in 1983 after which coached quarterbacks and tight ends there within the Nineteen Nineties for Johnny Majors and Walt Harris. Manette, who met Curt in her hometown of Indiana, Pa., whereas in pharmacy faculty, shared in supporting their younger household as a pharmacist.
Pitt is the place Cignetti’s recruiting abilities — analysis and relentless pursuit — obtained him his first recruiting coordinator gig. He carried that to Chuck Amato’s employees at NC State and likewise coached Philip Rivers there.
“Cig is simply a type of coaches that checks each field and you would see all of it again then,” stated Noel Mazzone, who labored with Cignetti as Amato’s offensive coordinator in 2003 and 2004.
The Saban connection got here again round when he left the Miami Dolphins for the Alabama job in early 2007. Saban had stayed in contact with Cignetti through the years and now needed him to coordinate recruiting and coach receivers for the Crimson Tide. That meant pursuits corresponding to eventual Heisman winner Mark Ingram, teaching gamers like Julio Jones and profitable a nationwide championship.
“My expertise with coach Saban, I can’t even start to inform you, like, even simply after a 12 months with him, how a lot I discovered about operating a company,” Cignetti stated. “From A to Z. Every single day was like a doctoral class. It was so structured, so organized. He had a philosophy on all the pieces. Every thing was simply hermetic. I discovered a ton.”
One factor he discovered: Saban preferred to look exterior to fill coordinator openings, corresponding to when he employed Jim McElwain from Fresno State to be OC in 2008. After 4 seasons, together with his fiftieth birthday approaching, Cignetti was feeling the urgency.
“I actually didn’t need to be one other 58-year-old assistant coach bouncing round in search of one other job, what I imply?” he stated. “I’d seen these guys. I’d grown up within the enterprise, I’d adopted careers and I didn’t need to be in that scenario eight to 10 years from then. I wasn’t a coordinator and I felt prefer to that time I used to be at all times the subsequent man. I’d been handed over. However I at all times felt like I may very well be a very good head coach. I wasn’t not going to be a head coach.”
IUP referred to as in December 2010.
“I stated, ‘No, you may’t take it,’” Manette stated. “I simply wasn’t going backward.”
Cignetti turned it down. That was that. Besides weeks later, the job nonetheless wasn’t stuffed. Cignetti obtained one other name.
“He appears at me and says, ‘I simply actually need to be a head coach,’” Manette stated. “What am I gonna do? Maintain him from his dream? He gave me that look and it was, ‘Oh crap. OK. OK. Let’s go. Let’s do it.’”
It was a a lot simpler determination when Indiana got here calling after final season after James Madison completed 11-1 to convey Cignetti’s five-year report there to 52-9.
The Indiana of Pennsylvania transfer meant Manette resuming work as a pharmacist, upfront of each daughters following up school with medical faculty — each are docs now — whereas Curtis obtained into medical gross sales. He and his spouse, Amy, have offered the Cignettis with their first two grandkids, Sophia and Isabelle.
Indiana soccer is a household affair for the Cignettis. (Courtesy of Manette Cignetti)
The Indiana of Bloomington transfer meant Cignetti’s wage multiplied by almost seven instances — from $677,000 final 12 months at James Madison to $4.25 million per 12 months at IU earlier than bonuses. He’s a 63-year-old coach who has by no means been a coordinator for a power-conference faculty and has simply two FBS head teaching seasons beneath his belt. And he was the straightforward, clear No. 1 selection for Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson.
“From the primary time we talked, it was, ‘This man is simply totally different,’” Dolson stated. “Folks don’t imagine me, however I don’t assume he’s cocky. He’s actually not. He simply tells you precisely how he feels.”
That meant frank conversations about administrative help throughout the interview course of and a sense after speaking to IU President Pamela Whitten that it was sturdy. Cignetti already knew the Massive Ten’s media rights offers would prolong IU’s assets edge over most athletic departments in years to return. And {that a} hapless soccer program isn’t an possibility for any establishment that desires to remain in that neighborhood.
Dolson is aware of that, too, which is why his division launched a examine to assist direct the revival of Indiana soccer whereas Tom Allen was nonetheless the coach. The main focus was on “like colleges,” Dolson stated, that had discovered soccer success. Put one other means, basketball colleges: Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and North Carolina.
There are main variations amongst that group, however all have discovered various measures of success with good teaching hires. Although Kansas is struggling this season, Lance Leipold has given this system vitality and suits the profile of an older coach who labored his means up at decrease ranges. The “do-everything” nature of these jobs will be a bonus, as Dolson noticed this season when Cignetti had a full journey plan prepared early upfront of a win at UCLA.
GO DEEPER
‘Should you can coach, you may coach’: So why do not extra lower-level coaches make the large time?
The examine produced a number of traits of a great coach, together with somebody who was at the moment a head coach; a confirmed evaluator who had been a recruiting coordinator in some unspecified time in the future; and an offensive-minded coach identified particularly for growing quarterbacks. Cignetti was an apparent selection earlier than they spoke. Then they did.
“It was like he had our blueprint and our plan actually in entrance of him after I was speaking to him,” Dolson stated. “Every thing that was necessary to us was necessary to him.”
Nonetheless: Indiana?
That is this system with probably the most losses in Division I historical past, 713, and the worst profitable proportion by far in Massive Ten historical past at .421. It’s to the Massive Ten as Vanderbilt is to the SEC, although Indiana does a minimum of have two convention titles to its title — in 1945 and 1967.
Allen offered a short burst of hope together with his 14-7 run in 2019 and 2020. Terry Hoeppner had the vitality to alter the narrative within the early 2000s earlier than tragically dying of mind most cancers after two seasons. Invoice Mallory had some stable groups within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. Lee Corso introduced persona. Nobody has gotten out of the place with extra wins than losses since Bo McMillin managed that feat in 1947.
Cignetti had no use for that historical past. However he felt it virtually instantly.
“I may inform this place had been overwhelmed down by way of lots of people simply didn’t assume it was doable,” he stated. “I used to be simply shocked at how everyone on the skin thought it was not possible to get something executed right here.”
That’s the genesis of the Pittsburgh-accented “Google me.” Cignetti had heard sufficient chatter in regards to the hopelessness of Indiana soccer by the point he obtained to his introductory presser.
“That simply killed me — that’s typical, straight Cig, proper?” Mazzone stated.
“He actually is humble, however he needed to mild a hearth,” Manette stated.
“I simply needed to set an expectation stage that that is who we’re gonna be, and we’re not gonna allow the rest,” Cignetti stated. “We’re profitable right here. There are not any self-imposed limitations. I needed to present that confidence, not simply to the gamers, however to the followers.”
Then it was on to rapidly fixing a roster that had simply misplaced a number of defensive starters and all however one offensive starter. Cignetti introduced in 22 transfers, 13 from James Madison. He leaned on these guys, a number of of them immediately a few of IU’s greatest gamers, to get everybody else prepared for what was coming.
Practices can be brief and relentlessly environment friendly. Life can be good for individuals who do the suitable issues and put together. These coaches would have the components for profitable, weekly.
“It didn’t take lengthy for everybody to get on board,” Horton stated, and the Hoosiers have received all six video games, the very best begin since 1967, getting into a second of revelation in opposition to Nebraska.
The schedule will get a lot more durable from right here, with Washington, Michigan and a visit to Ohio State arising quickly. However the high quality of the soccer — spearheaded largely by Ohio switch quarterback Kurtis Rourke — is plain. The Hoosiers are ingenious and explosive on offense, and so they cease the run and get after the quarterback on protection, with JMU switch Mikail Kamara already at 5 sacks. The response from followers and boosters, Cignetti stated, has been “excessive.”
“The NIL has grown very considerably from what it was, and it wanted to,” he stated. “I pushed that arduous. I pushed the envelope on that, and other people responded.”
Already, this program has higher amenities than some could understand — each stadium finish zones had been enclosed prior to now 15 years at a mixed value of $91 million, plus $2 million in locker room renovations in 2019. Indiana athletics had $166.8 million in reported revenues in the newest funds 12 months, No. 13 within the nation and No. 5 within the Massive Ten. Indiana College has the second-largest alumni base within the nation, about 900,000 folks.
So there’s cash to be present in case Cignetti’s wage must double or so, quickly after it obtained multiplied by seven. As extra of school soccer finds out who he’s, his crew is in place to contend for a spot within the first 12-team School Soccer Playoff. The Hoosiers ought to have an inexpensive shot at each sport on the schedule however the journey to Ohio State.
Hoosiers followers could have to see extra to imagine one thing like that’s doable, however to this point in 10 months, they’ve seen nothing to declare it isn’t.
“When that point involves get into that Playoff bid, we’ll lookup and see our brand up there,” Fisher stated, “after which we’ll get to making ready for that sport identical to it’s one other sport week.”
That confidence. That’s what Cignetti’s executed.
(High picture: Michael Hickey / Getty Pictures)