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CURT CIGNETTI | HEAD COACH

 

The 2024 Home Depot National Coach of the Year, Curt Cignetti, was named the 30th head football coach in Indiana football history on December 3, 2024, and over his first calendar year on campus engineered one of the best first-year turnarounds in FBS history.

A program-record for wins in a season (11) and Big Ten victories (8) highlighted Cignetti’s first season in Bloomington. The 2024 season marked the first double-digit win season in program history and pushed IU into the College Football Playoff for the first time as the No. 10 seed.

Nationally, Cignetti was the first-ever Division I head coach to start 8-0 or better in consecutive seasons at different institutions. He led James Madison to a 10-0 mark to start the 2023 season and pushed Indiana to an identical mark to begin the 2024 campaign.

Cignetti also joined this select group of Big Ten coaches that started their Big Ten tenures with 10-0 overall records in the AP Poll Era (since 1936): Ryan Day (Ohio State, 2018-19), Urban Meyer (Ohio State, 2012), Earle Bruce (Ohio State, 1979), Bennie Oosterbaan (Michigan, 1948-49) and Carroll Widdoes (Ohio State, 1944-45).
 
INDIANA (2024-)

  • Cignetti has immediately elevated the Indiana program with a program-record 11 victories in his first season at the helm and a College Football Playoff appearance.
  • After helping the Hoosiers to an 11-2 record and an 8-1 mark in the Big Ten – both win totals are program-bests – he was named the Hayes-Schembechler Big Ten Coach of the Year (coaches) and Dave McClain Coach of the Year (media) from the conference office.
  • The accolades didn’t stop there, as he was named the Home Depot National Coach of the Year at the annual ESPN Home Depot Awards and added national coaching honors from The Sporting News, Football Writers Association of American, Associate Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation and American Football Coaches Association.
  • Cignetti is the first-ever Division I head coach to start 10-0 in consecutive seasons at different schools. (James Madison, 2023; Indiana, 2024).
  • One of six Big Ten coaches that started their Big Ten tenures with 10-0 overall records in the AP Poll Era (since 1936): Cignetti (2024), Ryan Day (Ohio State, 2018-19), Urban Meyer (Ohio State, 2012), Earle Bruce (Ohio State, 1979), Bennie Oosterbaan (Michigan, 1948-49) and Carroll Widdoes (Ohio State, 1944-45).
  • Cignetti engineered a 7.5-game improvement from Indiana’s 2023 to 2024 season, a number that sits as the fourth-best improvement by a first-year head coach since at least 1996 and is the best by a Power 4 head coach since 2012 (Gus Malzahn, Auburn; 8 games).
  • He is the only Indiana head coach to begin his head coaching tenure 4-0 or better and his 11 wins set the mark for wins by a first-year IU head coach, previously held by James M. Sheldon (8; 1905).
  • A win over FIU in Week 1, Cignetti became the 15th coach in program history to win the first game of his Indiana tenure and the first to do since Bill Lynch in 2007. He was the eighth IU frontman to start 2-0 and fourth to begin 3-0.
  • Joins Clyde B. Smith (1948) as the only first-year Indiana head coaches to win their first game at IU and their initial Big Ten game.
  • The 77 points in the Western Illinois set the single-game program record for points in a game and the 66 points against Purdue in a 66-0 shutout are the most by an IU team in a Big Ten game. The previous marks were 76 (Franklin College, 1901) and 63 (at Wisconsin, 2001).
  • The 29-point margin of victory at UCLA was Indiana's largest in a Big Ten road game since defeating Wisconsin (Oct. 6), 63-32, in 2001.
  • Indiana’s offense has set program records for total touchdowns (70), offensive touchdowns scored (68), and rushing touchdowns (tied; 37).
  • Put a staff in place started with the six assistant coaches and head strength coach that followed Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana: Bryant Haines (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers), Mike Shanahan (Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers), Grant Cain (Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends), Pat Kuntz (Defensive Tackles), John Miller (Running Backs), Tino Sunseri (Quarterbacks/Co-Offensive Coordinator) and Derek Owings (Director of Athletic Performance).
  • Haines and Shanahan have been with Cignetti for the long haul. Both took jobs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and were elevated to coordinator for the first time at James Madison under Cignetti.
  • Along with the six assistant coaches, Cignetti saw 13 key contributors from his previous stop join the IU program via the transfer portal in 2024.

 
AT JAMES MADISON (2019-23)

  • Cignetti amassed massive success in his five-year tenure at James Madison. The Dukes went 52-9, including a 19-4 mark in 2022 and 2023, JMU's first two years as an FBS program.
  • In his five years at the help, Cignetti's teams went 52-9 overall and 31-4 in conference play.
  • Of his many accomplishments in Harrisonburg, Virginia, he is the first head coach to lead a team into the AP Top 25 during a program’s first year of transition from FCS to FBS (2022).
  • The 2023 season was nothing short of magical as the team went 11-1, owned a 7-1 mark in the Sun Belt to win the East Division and spent time in the national rankings. JMU clinched the school’s first bowl bid (Armed Forces Bowl), claimed its second of back-to-back division titles, and spent time in the top-25 for six-straight weeks.
  • The outstanding season earned Cignetti 2023 Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
  • In 2022, JMU went 8-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in conference play to finish tied for first in the East Division. The Dukes opened with a 5-0 record, earning its top-25 nod for the first time in the program’s FBS history.
  • Prior its FBS success, Cignetti helped the Dukes to similar FCS success with three-consecutive CAA championships and three playoff appearances, which included a 2019 FCS National Championship Game appearance and two semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021.
  • Cignetti led James Madison to a 14-2 record and the national title appearance in his first campaign in Harrisonburg in 2019. JMU reeled off 14 consecutive wins, went 8-0 in league play, and notched eight nationally-ranked wins, with three inside the top-10.
  • The Dukes went 7-1 and reached the FCS semifinals in 2020, and finished 12-2 with a conference championship and semifinal appearance in their final FCS season in 2021.
  • A 2019 Eddie Robinson Award finalist, Cignetti mentored 27 Dukes to All-America status. At the conference level, he tutored one player of the year, three offensive players of the year, two defensive players of the year, and one special teams player of the year.
  • James Madison totaled 72 all-conference honorees, including 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year quarterback Jordan McCloud and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year defensive lineman Jalen Green.

 
AT ELON (2017-18)

  • Prior to his stint at James Madison, Cignetti amassed a 14-9 record over two years at Elon (2017-18), a program that went 12-45 in the previous five campaigns.
  • The Phoenix qualified for the FCS Playoffs both seasons, just the second and third playoff berths in program history (2009).
  • Cignetti led Elon to a six-win improvement in 2017 with an 8-4 overall record and 6-2 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play to finish second in the rankings. The Phoenix defeated four ranked opponents and returned to the national rankings for the first time since 2010.
  • The 2017 squad’s eight-game winning streak was the longest for Elon since 2009 ad earned him Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors.
  • A postseason appearance and No. 20 national ranking helped him earn a fourth-place finish in the voting for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year award.
  • Elon secured a second-straight playoff appearance in 2018, with the No. 9 Phoenix knocking off No. 2 James Madison for the program’s first-ever win over an FCS top-5 opponent. The victory also snapped the Dukes’ 22-game conference winning streak.

 
AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY PENNSYLVANIA (2011-16)

  • Cignetti’s inaugural head-coaching opportunity came at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2011-16.
  • The IUP job was personally special for Cignetti as his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., played for the Crimson Hawks and later patrolled the sidelines for 20 years as head coach.
  • He went 53-17 with three NCAA Division II Playoff appearances and four Top 25 finishes in six seasons.
  • The Crimson Hawks touted a 33-11 ledger in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference after a 4-10 two-year stretch prior to his arrival. Cignetti was 4-3 in the playoffs and had a final ranking as high as No. 12 (2016).

 
AS AN ASSISTANT COACH

  • Cignetti’s 26-year tenure as an assistant coach featured stops at Davidson (1985), Rice (1986-88), Temple (1989-92), Pittsburgh (1993-99), NC State (2000-06) and Alabama (2007-10).
  • Worked as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator on Nick Saban’s first coaching staff at Alabama. His connection with Saban began with his father, Frank Cignetti, who hired Saban while the head coach at West Virginia.
  • The Crimson Tide went 12-2 in 2008, the same year Cignetti helped corral the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. Alabama followed with an undefeated national championship season in 2009, and a 10-win campaign in 2010.
  • He joined the Crimson Tide after a seven-year stint as recruiting coordinator (2000-06), tight ends coach (2000-02), and quarterbacks coach (2003-04) at NC State.
  • The Wolfpack reached five bowl games in seven seasons, including the 2002 Gator Bowl squad that set a program record with 11 victories.
  • His first run as a recruiting coordinator came in his second stint at Pittsburgh from (1993-99), where he also coached tight ends and quarterbacks at various times under College Football Hall of Famer Johnny Majors.
  • He mentored quarterbacks and receivers at Davidson in 1985 and oversaw the quarterbacks at Rice (1986-88) and Temple (1989-92).
  • Cignetti started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pitt (1983-84) and was part of its Fiesta Bowl team his first year.