Curt Cignetti

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Gopherchase said:
And if you don’t think that a good share of the 50 or so assistant coaches who have left since PJ’s been our head coach did so because they were sick of RTB, then you’re just lying to yourself. Neither Mason nor Kill had anywhere near this level of turnover and from listening to everybody on here for 50 years we’ve had a shitty assistant coach budget.
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Nobody wanted kills assistants and neither the won as much
 

Gopherchase said:
OK, genius if you or anybody else can provide definitive evidence that PJ sits there with a 12 highest salary in the conference but continues to roll forward having the 17th or 18th BuDGET (not paid amount) for the assistant coaches pool I’ll continue to come on the site to get information and intel but won’t ever post again. Since I’ve refuted that probably on here 100 times I guess if I’ve been dead wrong 100 times then I ought to lose my posting privileges.
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Lol at you acting like the 12th highest paid head coaching salary is good. Clearly your Asperger's is kicking if you think Fleck salary automatically equates assistant coaching salary. We have never been 12th even in years when flecks salary ranked higher than that. No need to leave every site needs a village idiot . You are to me what Louisiana Monroe was to Glen Mason September non con schedules
 

The Deliberate Stranger said:
Lol at you acting like the 12th highest paid head coaching salary is good. Clearly your Asperger's is kicking if you think Fleck salary automatically equates assistant coaching salary. We have never been 12th even in years when flecks salary ranked higher than that. No need to leave every site needs a village idiot . You are to me what Louisiana Monroe was to Glen Mason September non con schedules
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I think PJ is a bigger man than to collect the 12 high salary while his assistant pool is 18th.
 

Gopherchase said:
I think PJ is a bigger man than to collect the 12 high salary while his assistant pool is 18th.
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He has increased the pool during his time but you and I both know that's as much on the administration, well maybe you that IDK, unfortunately we aren't the only ones increasing our spending and we are doing it at a slower rate then the rest of the conference. But hey we've been reactive and not proactive since the Eisenhower administration so what else is new. For the record I wish we had the theoretical dollars you claim that we do. Keep rowing!
 

The Deliberate Stranger said:
He has increased the pool during his time but you and I both know that's as much on the administration, well maybe you that IDK, unfortunately we aren't the only ones increasing our spending and we are doing it at a slower rate then the rest of the conference. But hey we've been reactive and not proactive since the Eisenhower administration so what else is new. For the record I wish we had the theoretical dollars you claim that we do. Keep rowing!
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Word salad.
 




MinneNoVA said:
GG, you really need to get your facts straight. Just a little research on your part would have saved you from looking silly. For everybody’s information, JMU won the Sun Belt East Division in 2023 with an 11-2 record but were NOT ELIGIBLE to participate in the Sun Belt Conference Championship because they had recently moved up from FCS to FBS. 2023 was the second year of their probationary period. Let's not let facts get in the way of someone's narrative...a lot of that going around here in the DC area.


In the “Official 2025 Conference Championship Weekend thread” on 7 Dec 2025, you wrote the following in response to one of my comments:

“I can only interpret this post to mean that you agree that Cignetti is no coaching genius nor is he some talent evaluation genius. Otherwise, we would've beaten NDSU when he was coaching JMU at the FCS level.”

Allow me to refresh your memory with my response to this post:

START RESPONSE
“And of course, you have interpreted my comment incorrectly. You're entitled to your opinion of course but allow me to share some facts about recent Cignetti-coached teams that are easily verified on the Sun Belt, B1G, and IU web sites.

First, Cignetti's coaches. Stability of Coordinators and Assistant Coaches has been critical to Cignetti's success. The following coaches went with Cignetti to Indiana from JMU and are still with Cignetti at Indiana.
Mike Shanahan (OC): Has worked for Cignetti since 2016 (IU of Pennsylvania)
Bryant Haines (DC): Has worked for Cignetti since 2017 (Elon)
Grant Cain (ST/TE): Since 2019 (JMU)
Pat Kuntz (DT): Since 2022 (JMU)
John Miller (RB) Since 2021 (JMU)
Derek Owings (SC): Since 2020 (JMU)

Given Cignetti's head coaching success at every stop he's made since 2011 (IU of PA; Elon; JMU; and now IU), I think I can safely opine that Cignetti is a coaching genius and has a very sharp eye for coaching talent.

Next, his players. Here are the All-Conference selections of JMU players from Cignetti's last four teams (2022-2023 from the Sun Belt and those (in bold text) who transferred with him in 2024-2025 to Indiana):

2022 (Sun Belt):
Todd Centeio (QB): Sun Belt POY; Newcomer of the Year; 1st Team
Kris Thornton (WR): 1st Team
Isaac Ukwu (DL): 1st Team
Nick Kidwell (OT): 2nd Team
Jamare Edward (DL) 2nd Team
James Carpenter (DL): 2nd Team
Percy Agyei-Obese (RB): 3rd Team
Taurus Jones (LB): 3rd Team
Drew Painter (TE): HM
Jailin Walker (LB): HM
Sam Kidd (DB): HM
Jordan Swann (DB): HM

2023 (Sun Belt):
Jordan McCloud (QB): Sun Belt Off POY; 1st Team
Jalen Green (DL): Sun Belt Def POY; 1 Team
Elijah Surrat (WR): 1st Team
Reggie Brown (WR): 1st Team
Zach Horton (TE): 1st Team
Jamree Kromah (DL): 1st Team
Tyler Stephens (LG): 2nd Team
James Carpenter (DL): 2nd Team
D’Angelo Ponds (DB): 2nd Team
Mikail Kamara (DL): 2nd Team
Ryan Hanson (P): 2nd Team
Aiden Fisher (LB): 3rd Team
Camden Wise (K): 3rd Team
Jailin Walker (LB): HM
Phoenix Sproles (WR): HM
Chauncey Logan (DB): HM
Francis Meehan (DB): HM

2024 (B1G): Only those JMU players who went to IU with Cignetti
Mikail Kamara (DL): 1st Team (M&C)
Aiden Fisher (LB): 1st Team (M&C); FWAA All American
D’Angelo Ponds (DB): 1st Team (M&C)
Elijah Surrat (WR): 3rd Team (M&C)

2025 (B1G): Only those JMU players who went to IU with Cignetti
Aiden Fisher (LB): 1st Team (M&C)
D’Angelo Ponds (DB): 1st Team (M&C)
Tyrique Tucker (DL): 1st Team (M&C)
Elijah Surrat (WR): 2nd Team (M&C)

Given the success of Cignetti's players from the standpoint of All Conference selection, I'd say that Cignetti has had a pretty good eye (dare I say "genius"?) for identifying and recruiting talented players. That coupled with his undeniable success as a head coach at the aforementioned schools, he and his staff have been able to place those talented players in positions to maximize their success and that of the team.

As I said above, you are entitled to your opinion, but I hope these facts shed some light on Cignetti's success and his ability to recruit and retain talented coaches and players. You may not think Cignetti is a "genius" or like his schtick (just as some on this board aren't fans of PJ's schtick), but the guy is a proven winner.”
END RESPONSE

It appears you and Ope missed reading this earlier response or chose to ignore it. In any case, both of you should stop with the silly anti-Cignetti talk. I don’t think Cignetti is a magician - I think he is a damn fine football coach who has an eye on recruiting and developing talented football players and coaches. I'm happy for his success at Indiana - wish Minnesota could have the same success.

Oh, by the way, how but that beat down Indiana put on Alabama. Didn't you want the OK/AL winner to beat Indiana? Sorry!
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Apologies I missed your great post from before. Thanks for making it! Appreciate the effort on long posts like these.

Point taken on 2023, I was wrong. Also looks like JMU beat Troy early in the year, so the rematch would have been interesting. Team that lost first usually has an advantage in a rematch, and App State beat JMU then Troy beat App State. Don't think it's a given that JMU would've won it, not that you were saying that it would be.


On the really long part about players that Cig took with him from JMU. Noted that he brought a few studs. Sarratt in particular.

That said, I stand by my statement:

- IU goes 9-3 with losses to Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State (should've lost to them anyway) if you simply swap 2025 Mendoza for 2024 Rourke.

That's how big a difference having the Heisman winner bought for you is.

Cig did not recruit or develop Mendoza. I could maybe give him half a point of credit for recruiting his brother, which led partly to him going to IU. Heck, maybe that was the long play in the first place.
 

GopherGrit said:
Apologies I missed your great post from before. Thanks for making it! Appreciate the effort on long posts like these.

Point taken on 2023, I was wrong. Also looks like JMU beat Troy early in the year, so the rematch would have been interesting. Team that lost first usually has an advantage in a rematch, and App State beat JMU then Troy beat App State. Don't think it's a given that JMU would've won it, not that you were saying that it would be.


On the really long part about players that Cig took with him from JMU. Noted that he brought a few studs. Sarratt in particular.

That said, I stand by my statement:

- IU goes 9-3 with losses to Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State (should've lost to them anyway) if you simply swap 2025 Mendoza for 2024 Rourke.

That's how big a difference having the Heisman winner bought for you is.

Cig did not recruit or develop Mendoza. I could maybe give him half a point of credit for recruiting his brother, which led partly to him going to IU. Heck, maybe that was the long play in the first place.
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What color is the sky in your world, Cliff?
 



With all due respect, did anyone think Mendoza would win the Heisman at the beginning of the season (what were the odds?)? I get he was highly rated in the portal. He passed for more yards and a better completion percentage but his TD and int numbers his last year at Cal mirror what Drake did this season for the Gophers (16 tds 6 ints). Sure Indiana bought him but they obviously saw the potential to play well in their system. Anyone that thinks Indiana is only pulling this off via luck, money, or some obvious Heisman winner that no one picked before the season is off their rocker.
 

GopherGuy82 said:
With all due respect, did anyone think Mendoza would win the Heisman at the beginning of the season (what were the odds?)?
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Mendoza was 60-1 in the preseason to win the Heisman Trophy in 2025.

The Top Three preseason favorites:

Arch Manning (Texas QB): +600
Cade Klubnik (Clemson QB) +900
Garrett Nussmeier (LSU): +900

None of those three were finalists, not even close, in fact. Nussmeier and Klubnik got benched for parts of the season. Manning was up and down.

For comparison sake, the finalists preseason odds were:

Mendoza 60-1
Pavia 150-1
Love 35-1
Sayin 22-1

One other note, Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke finished 9th in the final Heisman ballot in 2024. So, it wasn't totally inconceivable that Mendoza would be in the mix in the preseason.
 
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Fair enough. Thanks for sharing the numbers. We'll never know the answer but how much of that was based on transferring to Indiana? If he stayed at Cal and put up another season similar to 3000 yds 16 tds 6 ints would he even be top 15 in Heisman voting? Those numbers also show this isn't an exact science. Those three QBs were anointed as Heisman level and seen as better than Mendoza. It didn't go well for those three (Manning, Klubnik, Nussmeier). My only point in this is it isn't as simple as saying, "well they bought the Heisman winner". They bought a well thought of QB and within their system he put up good enough numbers to win the Heisman.
 
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GopherGuy82 said:
Fair enough. Thanks for sharing the numbers. We'll never know the answer but how much of that was based on transferring to Indiana? If he stayed at Cal and put up another similar to 3000 yds 16 tds 6 ints would he even be top 15?
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For clarity sake, I wasn't disagreeing with you. Just providing some added info.

60-1 odds are pretty long. There were about 20-25 players with "better" preseason odds to win it. And, among the eventual finalists, only Pavia had longer odds.

No one had Mendoza winning in the preseason.

Indiana's team success was a huge key, too.

Agree, if he put those numbers up at Cal, he gets not a sniff.
 
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I dont remember which thread this was in, but my favorite argument for why Cignetti is not that good was that his team did not play in a conference championship game two years where they finished first in their division but were ineligible to play in the conference title game. That would be like saying Bernie Bierman was not that good because he never coached in a Big Ten title game or CFP.
 



btowngopher said:
Just coaching genius, money is a non-factor. *eyeroll*
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I dont think anyone thinks money is a non-factor for transfers going to any major conference school. That said, before the season started, did you think Indiana had bought a roster that OSU and Alabama were jealous of?
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I dont remember which thread this was in, but my favorite argument for why Cignetti is not that good was that his team did not play in a conference championship game two years where they finished first in their division but were ineligible to play in the conference title game. That would be like saying Bernie Bierman was not that good because he never coached in a Big Ten title game or CFP.
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That's as bad as people saying Cignetti isn't a good coach because he never won a title with any other team he coached and then proceeding to say they are only good because they have the Heisman winner. You know, the guy that only lead Cal to back to back 6-7 seasons. If it was only him why couldn't he elevate Cal by himself?

No one can downplay what Indiana has accomplished the last two years. I don't know Cignetti from Adam so I don't know if he is a jerk or not and Nil advantages notwithstanding the guy can coach and evaluate talent. Every single team, outside of the ones that are there every year, would kill for what Indiana has done the last two years.
 

There is a lot of money being thrown around across the country. No one is denying that. You still have to find the right players and know how to coach. Yes, you have to take numbers that get thrown around with a grain of salt but here are some.


I don't think those bottom four got their money's worth, do you? I also don't see Indiana. So no it is not as simple as they just spent the most and bought the best players. It's been stated many times that Indiana's transfer rating was comparable to the Gophers. Now the players they have pulled for next year, it definitely looks like they are getting the top players.
 

I wonder how many total pages we would have if we combined all the Cignetti/Indiana threads on this site?

What Cignetti has done at Indiana is impressive. He is clearly getting the backing he needs to get the players he wants, and he has done a great job identifying talent. They have also had some luck on the scheduling front (2024) and stayed very healthy for the most part at the key positions.

It appears to be the perfect storm where everything has come together for Indiana. Had he been hired at Indiana like 5 years ago chances are very high that he would not have had anywhere near the success he is having now.
 

They aren’t going away any time soon if they keep crushing the portal like this.
 




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