Insider notes on Curt Cignetti's breakout season at Indiana: Big Ten dominance, 8-0 record and why Notre Dame, Ohio State could be calling

Don’t look now but Indiana, a program with just three winning seasons over the past two decades, has a record of 8-0 and is tied for the top spot in the Big Ten conference. The credit for the incredible turnaround goes to first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, who’s been a winner everywhere he’s gone.

Yet with such an impressive resume plus the ability to turn around a program that’s long been a doormat in the Big Ten in his first year, how soon before the bigger programs come knocking at Cignetti’s door?

Who is Curt Cignetti? What we know about Indiana's coaching sensation

The son of a football coach, Cignetti hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was a non-descript quarterback at West Virginia University, where he primarily rode the bench yet won two varsity letters.

Cignetti moved into coaching immediately after his playing days were done, making stops at Pittsburgh, North Carolina State, and Alabama along the way, where he primarily coached quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends.

Curt Cignetti - Source: Imagn

As receivers coach for Nick Saban at Alabama, Cignetti helped develop the likes of Julio Jones, a seven-time Pro Bowler in the NFL.

His first gig as a head coach took him to Indiana-Pennsylvania, or IUP as it’s known, where he led the Crimson Hawks to the Division II playoffs on three occasions.

Elon was his next stop, and Cignetti had the Phoenix in the FCS playoffs in consecutive seasons, a first for the program.

Then it was on to James Madison University in 2019, a team that played in the same conference as Elon (CAA) but committed to move up in ranks to the FBS/Division I.

That first year playing in the top division of collegiate football, 2022, the Dukes finished with an 8-3 mark under Cignetti and followed it up with a record of 11-2 the next season, topping the Eastern Division of the Sun Belt Conference and earning a trip to the Armed Forces Bowl.

Indiana came knocking on the door last November and Cignetti left James Madison after five winning seasons and a cumulative record of 52-9.

Curt Cignetti kickstarted a revolution in Indiana

Upon arriving in Bloomington, Cignetti, known as a masterful recruiter, filled the talent-deficient Indiana roster with more than two dozen transfers, many whom he previously coached at James Madison.

NCAA Football: Indiana at Northwestern - Source: Imagn

Yet one of the most important players recruited by Cignetti was former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke, a player NFL scouts viewed as draftable who was coming off a disappointing 2023 campaign with the Bobcats.

The coach’s impact on the team and quarterback was immediate, as the Hoosiers have beaten every opponent by at least two touchdowns this season, including a 56-7 blowout victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

His tutelage of Rourke has been masterful, as the quarterback has been fantastic leading the offense and has 15 touchdown passes to just three interceptions in seven games this season.

Even when Rourke was sidelined with a thumb injury that required surgery to repair, backup signal-caller Tayven Jackson came off the bench to dominate the Washington Huskies for Indiana’s eighth win of the season.

Hoosiers fans are breathing a sigh of relief, as Rourke is expected to be back on the field next weekend against Michigan State.

Indiana still has a struggling Michigan on the schedule, then it’s a showdown against Ohio State in Columbus on November 23, which is their most important game to date and quite possibly the most important contest the program has played since beating Purdue on November 25, 1967, a victory that clinched their last Rose Bowl appearance.

If he continues with this success, Cignetti is bound to get job offers from major college programs in the offseason, something college football insiders tell me is a given.

At this early stage, who could be suitors for Cignetti?

Potential teams who could be interested in Curt Cignetti

Though completely speculative at this point, the two programs almost always mentioned by college insiders are Ohio State and Notre Dame, schools whose coaches are fighting for survival and need big finishes to the season.

Ohio State’s Ryan Day has been much maligned recently since bringing the Buckeyes to the CFP semifinal game in 2019 and the national title contest a year later.

Ryan Day - Source: Imagn

He’s lost to Michigan three years in a row, a mortal sin in Columbus, and has been the overlord of a team that’s consistently underachieved the past few seasons. There have been problems on the offensive line the last two years and inconsistent play at quarterback.

Since taking over for Brian Kelly in 2022, Marcus Freeman has done a solid job at Notre Dame, yet he has never had them challenge for a national title, a place the program expects to be.

Freeman, like Day, has struggled with the quarterback position despite the school bringing in two high-profile transfers (Sam Hartman last season and Riley Leonard this year), and there is always the unexpected loss. This year, it was an embarrassing defeat to Northern Illinois in South Bend.

Last season, the Irish fell to a struggling Clemson team that was 4-4 at the time. And in 2022, it was another home defeat at the hands of a non-Power 5 team, this time Marshall.

Sources say Notre Dame would be the better fit, as Cignetti is very much a no-nonsense coach in the mold of Lou Holtz, who led the Irish to its last national title in 1988. Insiders also feel Cignetti’s age -- he’s presently 64 years old -- would be less of an issue for Notre Dame.

And while Cignetti is expected to be the hot coaching name if Indiana finishes the season strong, he will obviously have the final say on where his future lies. Except for a two-year stint at Elon, his other head coaching jobs lasted at least five years.

Will Cignetti want to stay in Bloomington and build something lasting with the Hoosiers? Or make the immediate jump to a program that has national title expectations every year?

Whatever the result, we are seeing one of the best under-the-radar head coaches of the past decade in Curt Cignetti and a coach who is going to be at the top of wish lists from athletic directors all over the country once the 2024 college football season concludes.