Coaches Show Recap: “This Isn’t a Field Trip”

Written by Ben Gillard

Head Coach Curt Cignetti sat down with “Voice of the Hoosiers” Don Fischer on Thursday for the third episode of “Inside IU Football.” Over the course of the hour-long show, Coach Cig spoke on how he feels the Hoosiers are playing and what he wants to see from the team heading into Big 10 play this week.

Cignetti started the show by giving his thoughts on IU’s 77-3 victory over the WIU Leathernecks. “We played a team we were better than; the team was struggling. What I liked were two things: we played with energy and intensity from the first play to the last play. There were no ebbs and flows. And we got a lot of people involved, we emptied the bench, played 78, 79 players, which is always a great thing to be able to do. . . so I thought there were a lot of positive things about that game.” 

He then went on to highlight some of the bench players that stood out to him in the WIU game: “Charlie Becker, the freshman running back [Khobie] Martin, some of the O-Linemen. On defense, {Ta’Derius] Collins had an interception, a really nice play by [Rolijah] Hardy at linebacker, so on to the next one.”

The next one, of course, being the Hoosiers first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1967 to open conference play against newcomer UCLA. When asked about how he prepares for such a long trip, Coach Cignetti said, “Do everything Friday on your campus, that way the players don’t miss much class, you have your meetings there; you have your walkthrough there. We did it that way at NC State, and we did it that way at Alabama too. My routine has worked for me, so I’m not changing it.” 

Coach Cig then showed a completely different side to his on-field persona, chuckling as he cracked a joke, “This isn’t like 4th grade when you go on a trip and come back and can show and tell. That ain’t what this is, we’re going to play a football game on a hundred-yard field that happens to be out in California, ok?” 

When asked about the matchup against UCLA, Cignetti said, “You look at UCLA; they have a great tradition, but the last three years they’ve won 25 games; they’ve been to three straight bowl games. Compare them to us, the last three years we’ve won 9 ball games, but yet, we’re favored; figure that one out.” Cignetti is not taking the Bruins for granted; however, when speaking about UCLA QB Ethan Garbers, he said, “He’s got a really good arm, he’s got a big league arm, and he’s got wheels; he’s mobile, and you can’t let him get out of the pocket.” Cignetti continued by saying, “It’s their home opener; like I said, they’ve got a lot of tradition, so I’m sure we’re going to catch their best shot.” 

With that, Cignetti left, and Fischer was joined by Defensive Coordinator Bryant Haines for the final segment of the show. Haines, a former IU grad assistant who played for Ball State and went 1-1 against the Hoosiers, started out by emphasizing how happy he was to be back at Indiana: “I’ve always enjoyed Bloomington; glad to be back. I wasn’t born here but I’ve got some Hoosier blood in me, no question.”

Coach Haines went on to emphasize the importance of chemistry on defense, saying “communication; chemistry is paramount, now I had some help along the way, bringing some of those guys from JMU that grew up in this system; they understand the level of communication that has to take place from front end to back end.”

When asked where he thinks the defense is at currently, Coach Haines said, “I think we are right at the place where you can dominate some bad opponents, and we’re going to find out on Saturday where we really stack up. But I’m excited about that challenge, and I think the guys are too; we’re not shying away from that, and I don’t plan on the product looking any different.” He ended by saying, “I think we are going to fly around and hit some Bruins in the face.”