Written By Nick Gonzales (@nrgonzales_)

Day 3 of Big Ten Media Day arrived and featured some of the most interesting group of coaches. During the press conferences today, we heard from the coaches from Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, Indiana and Michigan. While most of the coaches talked about their school’s program, Curt Cignetti was putting on one hell of a spectacle for all to see. With his confidence and charisma, it was refreshing to watch him speak.

Cignetti is fired up for the start of the season and he vows to bring wins to Indiana. In his opening statement, he states that he usually is picked to win the league. However, he has been picked next to last twice and now for a third time with Indiana, who is ranked 17th in the Big Ten in power rankings. In the face of adversity, Curt predicts that they won’t be ranked 2nd to last for long. “In 2022 we (JMU) won the conference championship, and in 2017 we inherited an 8-45 team (Elon) and won 8 in a row and played JMU in the conference championship” stated Cignetti about the two other times his team was picked second to last. It’s a historical fact that Cignetti wins games.

Right off the bat he is trying to excite Hoosier fans for the upcoming season, and so far, he is doing just that. Indiana last season lost five one-score games, which is an area where Coach Cig thrives in winning.

He won’t settle for anything less than giving it everything you’ve got. “We want to be the best… you don’t bring your kids up, Johnny, I want you to be fourth best, I want you to be tenth best. Bullshit. We want to be the best,” Coach Cig expressed in response to how he defines success at Indiana. To help foster that winning environment, Cignetti brought in a lot of guys who have played winning football and have good career production numbers.

During his Q&A, he set the expected standard for the NEW Indiana Football by expressing their thirst to win, “we want to be so good that we’re a lot of people’s rivals.” He made it clear right from the get-go that he won’t tolerate not being successful and he believes that it isn’t an ‘impossible task’ to inherit a ‘team like this’ when there are things like the transfer portal that can change a team real quick.

College football is a sport where teams have big changes to the roster every year and for teams to succeed, they have to get everyone into shape and be committed to playing the best they can. Cignetti has a lot of confidence in the Hoosiers this year but just as a lot of other teams are right now, they are where they need to be. The team has made a lot of progress so far and will continue to do so until the start of the season. Cignetti pledges to bring those results to Bloomington. Throughout his opening statement, he displays his devotion to making Indiana Football relevant again and that he couldn’t do it without “Pam Whitten (and) Scott Dolson’s tremendous commitment.”

Some may say that Cignetti is overly presumptuous, but it is also important to remember that football is part of the entertainment business. Cig’s outlandish statements are meant to excite fans and get them ready for the season. He demonstrates that he is a coach that’ll get the desired outcome to games while putting on a performance for the fans. He did an excellent job at creating excitement back on December 1, 2023, during an Indiana vs Maryland basketball game where he said “Purdue sucks. But so does Michigan and Ohio State,” which made the crowd erupt with cheers.

He explained why he said it during his Q&A today saying, “why stop there and set the bar at 6-6… we’re going after these two (Michigan & Ohio State). We want to be the best,” while adding that going to a bowl game isn’t enough, they want to be the best. Cignetti does an excellent job at getting fans enthusiastic for the season.

Throughout day 3 of Big Ten Media Day, all everyone was talking about was Curt Cignetti’s aspirations for the season. His charming but bold personality was the most enjoyable part about media day. His eccentric responses are creating buzz for Indiana all over social media. “We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s a**… that’s the objective every week,” Cignetti responds when asked about preparing against UCLA. He's made it clear to fans and the players during his phenomenal performance that Indiana will do whatever they need to do in order to become the best.

The Huddle

Curt Cignetti's Performance at Big Ten Media Day Shows He's Not Setting Limitations at IU

Hoosier Huddle