How did Indiana go from zero to hero?

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USAF said:
In Cignetti's 1st year his assistant pool was smaller than Fleck's. Look it up.

Most of his assistants are long time staff. He got them paid when he had the power.

People writing this off as only money are just blind to reality.
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Almost no one is arguing that. Coaching, development and money all played a part. Places like MN and Indiana need all three to be highly successful in today's game.
 

Jack jones said:
He is fortunate to have the same OC and DC in all his stops. Apparently it is hard to beat this continuity in staff.
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That is definitely a big thing Fleck struggles with. At least some continuity would be beneficial.
 

GophersInIowa said:
That is definitely a big thing Fleck struggles with. At least some continuity would be beneficial.
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That's why I believe Fleck sticks with both Harbaugh and Collins. It allows them to grow into the role (with major bumps in the road) and hopefully stick around like a Phil Parker at Iowa. Fleck had KC on his staff for a long time and it showed. Same with Rossi to a lesser extent.
 




Otis said:
Before Cignetti, they had 2 winning seasons since the 2000 season!

Now they have two seasons of 11-2 and 13-0! Number 1 ranking and the top dog in the playoff! This is like NCAA video game stuff!

Did Mark Cuban and Little Pink Houses give the football team all of their money?

Why can’t Minnesota do something like this?
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they know how to recruit, coach to no end. what a staff.
 

Panthadad2 said:
That's why I believe Fleck sticks with both Harbaugh and Collins. It allows them to grow into the role (with major bumps in the road) and hopefully stick around like a Phil Parker at Iowa. Fleck had KC on his staff for a long time and it showed. Same with Rossi to a lesser extent.
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I think that’s our best bet, to have guys that have been with Fleck for awhile and are loyal so are willing to get paid less to stay.
 





GophEnEspaña said:
It helps when Cignetti knows that the school/donors will pay whatever he needs for NIL and coaching staff salaries.

PJ sees the writing on the wall. He knows there aren't big donors coming out of the woodwork to magically bolster our NIL. He knows the administration will not pay competitive salaries to attract and keep talented assistants.

Two different worlds.
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Apologist.
 

Wait this guy has been coaching for 40 yrs? Everyone overlooked him for allllll of these years?
 

Cignetti is a great coach, and that is a big part of the equation. He knows what he wants and he goes out and gets it. That is only part of it. Over the past year, I've been convinced that the main problem at the U is that the administration just has no interest in fully investing in the program that pays for every other sport. Ultimately, Indiana has both a coach and an administration on the same page. I don't ever think the U will be. The admin just doesn't care that much about sports, as a whole. There are members, but not enough. SpanishGopher (sorry, this is easier for me to remember than your actual name) touched on this in their post. They only care about their own specific causes, and most of them are not into sports.
 



GophEnEspaña said:
We have to zoom out. Indiana is, culturally, a huge sports school. There is more buy-in from the admin, alumns, etc. Even if they have not won big in NCAAB recently, their past success has helped instill that into IU sports culture. Indianapolis and the surrounding regions love football and love HS football. They have notable alumni who are willing to throw money at the program.

Cignetti was the home run hire of home run hires. He's like prime NDSU Craig Bohl on steroids. He knows exactly how to build a winning program down to a science. Indiana plays disciplined, clean, tough, and together in ways I haven't seen since prime Saban Bama Death Star years. He brought all of his good JMU kids with him (under-recruited or transfers from bigger schools) who knew the system so he could go 0-100 right away last year. Indiana is also close enough to recruiting hotbeds to absorb talent easier than Iowa State or Minnesota.

Basically, they had a once in a lifetime coaching hire, pre-existing sports-obsessed school/state culture, and donors waiting in the woodwork to pounce on an opportunity like this. They really hit the holy trinity of program turn-arounds.
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Great summary. Had a business trip in Indianapolis a few months ago and my host was also on a high school football coaching staff. Actually, Dillon Thieneman (Purdue -> Oregon transfer) played on his team. He expressed how big college sports were in the region and how popular high school football was. Apparently, there are plenty of kids from those parts in the NFL.

Another thing is the fact that combined population of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, and Lexington collectively quite large (circa 8 MM+?).

As an aside, I was somewhat embarrassed by how Minneapolis (outside of North loop) compared to Indianapolis overall.
 

USAF said:
Nope. Money isn't the answer.
He has operated without money in his previous stops, and he didn't get the Cuban money until year 2.
Even with the Cuban money they're not just buying players. The 2026 Indiana recruiting class is similar to Minnesota's. Even rated a couple spots lower on 247. He brought 13 players with him from JMU, and he didn't get he highest rated transfers in either year so far. Hell he brought 13 players in from JMU. That's not money. That's talent evaluation and coaching.

Writing this off as "just money" is shallow reasoning at best. Likely more jealousy than reasoning.

The guy can evaluate, and coach.
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The "just money" angle also happens to fit PJ's mantra of we can't win, and wishing won't make it so. Coaching to win has a lot to do with Indiana's success as well.
 

Jack jones said:
He is fortunate to have the same OC and DC in all his stops. Apparently it is hard to beat this continuity in staff.
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Corey Hetherman was his DC at James Madison when he first arrived there.
 

go4gopher said:
Great summary. Had a business trip in Indianapolis a few months ago and my host was also on a high school football coaching staff. Actually, Dillon Thieneman (Purdue -> Oregon transfer) played on his team. He expressed how big college sports were in the region and how popular high school football was. Apparently, there are plenty of kids from those parts in the NFL.

Another thing is the fact that combined population of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, and Lexington collectively quite large (circa 8 MM+?).

As an aside, I was somewhat embarrassed by how Minneapolis (outside of North loop) compared to Indianapolis overall.
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Interesting. I know 2 different people from Indianapolis and they hated it there and love it here.
 

go4gopher said:
As an aside, I was somewhat embarrassed by how Minneapolis (outside of North loop) compared to Indianapolis overall.
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Interesting. I was last out there in like spring of 2017. Some cool neighborhoods that make you forget you're in the city.
 

USAF said:
One thing I really like about Cignetti is his refusal to simply accept the notion his team can't win. He doesn't believe tOSU's of the world can't be beaten.
He gets his team to believe as well.

I don't think a single person on the Gopher football team, from the head coach on down, has that belief. They are beat before the airplane lands in Columbus.
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Anybody see Cignetti postgame interview after the Alabama beatdown?

First thing out of his mouth (paraphrasing):
"Why not us? Because we have Indiana written across our chest?"

This guy believes in himself and his team. And he gets his team to believe.
Step one.
 

USAF said:
One thing I really like about Cignetti is his refusal to simply accept the notion his team can't win. He doesn't believe tOSU's of the world can't be beaten.
He gets his team to believe as well.

I don't think a single person on the Gopher football team, from the head coach on down, has that belief. They are beat before the airplane lands in Columbus.
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Or, he doesn't believe the Iowas of the world can't be beaten.
 


Otis said:
Before Cignetti, they had 2 winning seasons since the 2000 season!

Now they have two seasons of 11-2 and 13-0! Number 1 ranking and the top dog in the playoff! This is like NCAA video game stuff!

Did Mark Cuban and Little Pink Houses give the football team all of their money?

Why can’t Minnesota do something like this?
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Money
 


It's like everything.

They made the right hire and they had some things fall into place. I'm not going to call it luck because those things don't fall into place unless they have done the legwork. As far as the money goes, I don't think those efforts would have had any legs if they went 4-8 and followed it up with a 5-7.

They have a heck of a coach. Their transfers have been largely homeruns. They now have been able to continue to leverage that excitement into more money.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It's like everything.

They made the right hire and they had some things fall into place. I'm not going to call it luck because those things don't fall into place unless they have done the legwork. As far as the money goes, I don't think those efforts would have had any legs if they went 4-8 and followed it up with a 5-7.

They have a heck of a coach. Their transfers have been largely homeruns. They now have been able to continue to leverage that excitement into more money.
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I also have to believe players really like Cignetti. Externally he is perceived as a bit of an ahole, but I'll bet internally with the players he has high expectations, but also understands how to develop and rally them individually and together to meet or exceed those expectations.
 

They made the jump primarily by winning it seems


They’re winning by increasing investment into the program and then seemingly having the best portal scouting program in America

Hitting on some big time dudes that cost money but more of the difference is hitting on dudes that would be ho hum on a message board that turn into all conference level players.
I think cignetti has talked about looking for guys that have the skill set to fit what they want to do and the attitude they like.

I’m sure Indiana has portal misses. But they’re hitting at a much higher rate than others, IMO.

He’s a good coach.
He has good assistants.
They have enough money to go get guys.
All that is necessary but a lot of teams have that. The big difference to me is they’re getting the right guys to fit for them.


And then, they’re winning close games but possibly more importantly they’re avoiding close games.
They’re 4-0 in close games vs Penn state, Oregon, Iowa, and Ohio State
They beat everyone else by 10 or more.
The only game they didn’t leave no doubt against an average team was Penn state in happy valley.



I think college football is down this year and their 2024 team may have been better than their 2025 teams (though the QB play may be the difference putting 2025 over the top).
But last year they were 1-2 in games of 10 points or fewer.
The two losses were to the two teams in the national title game. The win was vs Michigan. They avoided close games last year too.




I am saying all this as a big Indiana football hater. I died on the hill that tom Allen sucked even after 2020 run. But I will not say that about cignetti. Best roster manager in America and a very good coach on top of it.
 




Harrymannback77 said:
Lol. 11.6 million for the head coach and 11 million for assistant pool. Money. He walks without it, and massive commitment from the administration. So yes, money.
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Yup, good group of coaches, made great adds through the portal including key players from James Madison, a historically easy schedule last year helped get the ball rolling, and of course the school made a massive financial commitment to the program. Would they have done it without winning last year? Maybe not as much, but I do think they still would have amped things up, maybe not as quickly. We are seeing other schools make similar efforts without doing a ton of winning, for example Texas Tech.
 

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