Legitimately, what makes Cignetti this good? Indiana was a joke like two years ago. Like does he have insane talent evaluation? Is it culture? I need to see the documentary, cause this is crazy
I agree this is critical, but he had to actually get them to IU. How did he accomplish that, when most of those offensive linemen had plenty of Big 10 and SEC (Notre Dame!) offers as well!
The culture cannot be understated. He’s talked about how lackadaisical and depressed things were when he got here. Guys not being held accountable and everyone assuming we’d lose.
This is now the most consistent, disciplined, and emotionally resilient team I’ve ever seen.
Personally I think that's what's gone wrong with Bama. They still have an incredible recruiting class each year, but I think without Saban's eye for talent and character you run the risk of getting a bunch of high star primadonas that can't actually play when they get to the big stage. It's a plausible explanation for their explosion in penalty yards, and for why they've been so incredibly inconsistent the last few years.
I think part of it's doing an incredible job of getting guys to buy into discipline and preparation. I don't get a chance to see many games (not in the US, so TV's a "get what you get" sort of thing), but I saw part of Indiana vs. Maryland earlier this year. It was a masterclass in "taking care of business". Even though they outmatched Maryland, they were still disciplined and efficient. I didn't even notice when they took out their starters -- the game looked exactly the same. Very few penalties and mistakes, and at least from my relatively ignorant eye, nothing sloppy... ever. The announcers even noted this when Alabama tried getting IU to jump on a 4th-and-short... noting that "Indiana's too disciplined to fall for this" - and they were right.
I distinctly remember thinking "I wish watching Texas games was like this". Even when Texas (the most-penalized team in the SEC by a fair margin) wins, there are clear cases of dumb penalties, dropped balls, etc. that you just don't see watching this Indiana team.
Talent evaluation is obviously a huge part of it, but I think people overlook the fact that most of his coaching staff has been with him for a decade. He can delegate with more confidence than any other head coach in the country.
Cig runs the program opposite almost everyone else. We don’t have a GM, he handles all talent evaluations and requires his sign off before an offer is made (and also dictates how much NIL they get). He is barely involved in the X and O’s - he leaves that up to his coaches
He is a CEO coach, more akin to a NFL GM than a HC. It just works.
Don't get me wrong, other programs have that and aren't as good. He's clearly a very good coach. But I think people have been slow to adjust to the post-NIL world. Given the money they spend, we should expect Indiana to be good. The fact that they were a joke before isn't really relevant anymore.
Obviously you can’t really tell, because there’s no transparency, but I doubt Indiana even cracks the top 20 for NIL spend. They’re doing this with guys most every other team has overlooked. Mendoza was a 2 star recruit ranked 2,149, Ty Simpson was a 5 star ranked 29th, for example. With less media attention means less bidding wars for these players and less spend overall.
Mendoza was a three star recruit before he played for a different power five program and developed into a top target on the transfer portal. He's making millions of dollars this season.
Indiana is already rumored to have their pick of the litter for transfer QBs this offseason. Cig is in the top five for coach salaries. They spend big.
61
u/minimoon5 Penn State Nittany Lions Jan 02 '26
Legitimately, what makes Cignetti this good? Indiana was a joke like two years ago. Like does he have insane talent evaluation? Is it culture? I need to see the documentary, cause this is crazy