The Indiana Hoosiers will play for the college football national championship on Monday night.
That’s a sentence no college football fan ever thought they’d read in their lifetime.
On November 30, 2023, Curt Cignetti was named IU’s head football coach, the latest in a long line of well-intentioned leaders thrown to the wolves to presumably be lunchmeat for the Big Ten’s big dogs. With one winning season in the previous 16 years, and a longstanding reputation as one of the losingest programs in the sport, not much was expected of Cignetti, who had spent the last five seasons turning James Madison into a formidable team.
At his introductory press conference, a reporter asked Cignetti how he planned to sell his culture to potential recruits and transfers
“It’s pretty simple. I win,” he said without a hint of irony. “Google me.”
The only thing more shocking than hearing the new head coach of Indiana football call down the thunder like that was that he has backed it up and then some.
In the two seasons since, Cignetti has turned the Hoosiers into a legitimate power program. After going 11-1 and making the College Football Playoff in his first season, the 64-year-old head coach led the Hoosiers to an undefeated 2025 campaign, a Big Ten title, and now to the national championship game. Along the way, they defeated Ohio State, Oregon (twice), and Alabama.
On Saturday, Cignetti was asked whether he thought this kind of success would come so soon after that infamous introduction.
“I don’t think I ever thought that far away, honestly. It was such a quick hiring process, and then when I got here, I found out so many things I didn’t know, 10 offensive starters in the transfer portal, and some other things that — like two universes colliding,” Cignetti told reporters. “We had pretty much won championships year in and year out, and doom and gloom on the Indiana side, and that’s kind of why I got out there a little bit the way I did.
“I knew I was out on a limb. I had to find out if the fan base was dead or on life support. The basketball game was the first thing, and then Google me was our press conference, signing day press conference, when I was asked the same question for about the 14th time. I had a lot of confidence in myself and the staff because we had had success. That’s why I took the job. But I can’t say I ever thought this far ahead.”
The irony is that Cignetti has only made his Google results better since throwing down the gauntlet. On Monday night, he has the chance to make them unimpeachable.
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