INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti isn’t going to take a back seat to anybody.
While sandwiched between powerhouse programs like Oregon and Michigan, Cignetti stole the show at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday.
Cignetti along with the players he handpicked to represent the program — linebacker Aiden Fisher, running back Justice Ellison and offensive lineman Mike Katic — closed out Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis on the event’s third and final day.
The Hoosiers first-year coach boasted about his impressive resume, gave reporters a history lesson on the last time he was picked to finish second-to-last in the conference standings and outlined his guiding principle of not having self-imposed limitations in life.
He was bold, brash and entertaining; and that was just in his introductory statement.
“I’ve kind of had to speak a big game taking over a job like this because we had to wake some people up and create some excitement, and after all, this is the entertainment business too,” Cignetti said, with a wide grin from the main stage.
Cignetti proceeded to touch on a wide-range of topics with his trademark self-assuredness and blunt style.
Here are the moments that stood out:
More: Indiana football coach took a shot at Purdue. The Boilermakers kept receipts.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on the program’s outgoing transfers
“I knew when we came in when we started interviewing the old players that we needed a lot of new faces and fortunately they did me a favor by leaving.”
This isn’t necessarily a new sentiment.
Cignetti expressed something similar when he spoke to local reporters in June at a NIL-related event about getting rid of “dead wood” after taking over, but this was on a national stage. He’s just not going to pull his punches no matter what the setting.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on watching film from team’s 2023 season
“You are two scores down, how are you going to react? At JMU, three scores down, come back and win the game. I saw a number of teams on tape last year where they get two scores down and all of a sudden, holy cow, what’s going on.”
Another not so thinly veiled shot at last year’s team, but Cignetti has already talked a lot about the importance of winning one-score games. He’s built his coaching philosophy around having a team that’s mentally and physically prepared to shine in those moments.
James Madison was 5-1 in one possession games last year and 7-2 over the last two seasons while IU was 2-4 in one possession games in 2023. The Hoosiers lost their last three games in dramatic fashion after having a lead in the final minutes or overtime in all three.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on playing at Rose Bowl Stadium
“We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s ass. That’s not directed to UCLA, that’s the objective every week. Look, I know 1967 we were there and haven’t been there since, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We’re not going out on a cruise or a tour.”
Not a quote that UCLA will put on its brochure.
Cignetti made sure to temper his initial statement to make sure the shot wasn’t aimed directly at UCLA, but it’s still something that the opposing coaching staff might bring up before the team’s play in September.
The coach has already immersed himself in IU’s history, but he’s not going to wax poetic about the past or various Big Ten or college football traditions.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on calling out Michigan and Ohio State
“I just ramped that up a little bit. Got 17,000 people in the basketball arena, right? I got to get them excited. The first part was easy, then why stop there? Why set the bar at 6-6? Our goal is to go after these two.”
Cignetti revisited his now infamous first appearance at Assembly Hall where he proceeded to call out the program’s main rival and the two teams that have accounted for the last seven Big Ten titles.
He repeated what he said before about the Purdue comments — he got a little over-excited in the moment — and admitted that at 63 years old “you lose your filter a bit.”
As for adding Ohio State and Michigan in the mix? It all goes back to not having those self-imposed limitations.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on his former rivalry with Coastal Carolina
“We had a rival in the Sun Belt, they made Coastal Carolina our rival cause they were really catching fire and beating everybody, Jamey Chadwell and them, we beat their ass 47-7 and 54-10.”
Chadwell landed the Liberty job after going 39-22 over four seasons at Coastal Carolina and reaching three bowl games.
He orchestrated a remarkable turnaround at the school — it went from 5-7 to 11-1 in his second year — and was a candidate for a series of job openings during his tenure, but he was 0-1 going head-to-head against Cignetti. James Madison won the rematch in 2023 as Cignetti pointed out against Chadwell’s successor Tim Beck.
Cignetti obviously still has some thoughts about Coastal Carolina’s rise to prominence that took place right in JMU’s backyard.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on setting expectations for the 2024 season
“When you compete you want to be the best. You can’t put self-imposed limitations. Oh, if we got to a bowl it’s a great year. Bullshit. That ain’t the goal. The goal is to be the best.”
Indiana’s metric for success in past seasons is going out the window. Cignetti doesn’t want 6-6, he…
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