Curt Cignetti was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year on Tuesday by the conference and media alike, a few days removed from the one-year anniversary of his hiring as Indiana football’s head coach.
Cignetti and the No. 10 Hoosiers finished the regular season 11-1, capped by a 66-0 win over archrival Purdue on Nov. 30. Indiana set program records in wins and conference victories and spent the final four weeks of the regular season ranked in the top 10.
In the three years before Cignetti’s arrival, the Hoosiers went 9-27. They started this season 10-0 before losing 38-16 on the road to then-No. 2 Ohio State on Nov. 23.
By winning coach of the year, Cignetti earned a $50,000 bonus, according to his new contract’s memorandum of understanding. He’ll make another $100,000 if he’s named National Coach of the Year.
The 63-year-old Cignetti, who Indiana hired Nov. 30, 2023, is the third coach in program history to be named Big Ten Coach of the Year by both the media and his fellow coaches, joining Bill Mallory in 1986 and Tom Allen in 2020.
It’s the fourth time in Cignetti’s 14-year head coaching career he’s been named coach of the year in his conference, each at different schools, but he said Tuesday this one is a little bit different.
“They’re all special, but this one’s the biggest venue,” Cignetti said on Big Ten Network. “Based on the expectations prior to the season by the media and everyone else across the country and what we ended up getting done on the field — it was a historic year for Indiana football. We’re not done yet and we’re not satisfied.”
Indiana, which finished tied for second in the Big Ten with Penn State, didn’t qualify for Saturday’s Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis — but the Hoosiers have more to look forward to.
Cignetti said there’s no doubt Indiana will make the College Football Playoffs, with official seeding to be announced Dec. 8. The Hoosiers’ destiny, Cignetti said, will be determined by their actions and preparation leading into the first game of the playoffs.
But such a conversation about the College Football Playoffs once seemed unthinkable in Bloomington. Cignetti noted Indiana’s low external preseason expectations, headlined by a projected 17th-place finish in the 18-team conference by the media, but he’s said multiple times he expected the Hoosiers to perform as well as they have.
Few others did — which has led to a momentum-building movement within the fanbase and program overall that Cignetti said is hard to describe.
And that movement ultimately helped Cignetti earn an extra $50,000, add another line to his resume and put the Hoosiers in position to compete for a national championship.
“This team’s accomplished a lot of great things, but what I really love about this team is, when I tell you they’re not satisfied — they’re not satisfied,” Cignetti said. “They want more, and they’ve been a joy to coach.”
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Jhett Garrett (@jhettgarrett) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
