Indiana University has been playing football since 1885 with their first recorded game coming in 1887 against Franklin College. In all those years, 2024 turned out to be the most successful Hoosier football season ever.
“Year one is in the books.” Head coach Curt Cignetti said in his opening remarks at Big Ten Media Day. “126 years of Indiana football. Best season in Indiana history. No. 1 out of 126.”
The Hoosiers started the season 10-0 and climbed as high as 5th in the national polls. They finished the year 11-2 (8-1) with a berth into the College Football Playoff. The Hoosiers reclaimed both the Old Brass Spittoon and the Old Oaken Bucket. They knocked off Michigan for just the second time since 1967. IU set program records for wins in a season and most points scored in a single game in program history.
The question everyone is asking Cignetti now is if that success is sustainable.
The answer to that question by Cignetti was not surprising at all.
“We’re not looking to sustain it. We’re looking to improve it.” A classic Cignetti answer.
The Hoosiers football program having sustained success has been about as rare as seeing sober people in Vegas after 7pm. It just does not happen very often. IU has had three winning seasons since 1994. So how does IU “improve” on their best season ever?
“The way you do that is by having the right people on the bus, upstairs in the coaches’ offices, downstairs in the locker room;” Cignetti said.
“Having a blueprint plan and process; high standards of expectations, never lowering your standards; day-to-day plan, highly structured and organized; organizational discipline to improve in critical areas, which usually you have to do with player development, scheme development, program development, and create those intangibles entering the season. Consistency day in, day out. Consistency is huge so that we can play fast, physical, relentless, smart, disciplined, poised, not affected by success, not affected by failure, and never ever satisfied until the game is over.”
The recipe for success may be straightforward, but it is never easy. In an era where the only consistent thing is change, IU was able to stay as intact as possible.
The Hoosiers retained every coach except for quarterback coach Tino Sunseri, now the OC at UCLA) and return the core of their team that includes four All-Americans.
“This year’s team has a lot of nice pieces. I would use that term, “pieces.” Now we’ve got to mold this group into a team in fall camp. I like a lot of parts on this team. Now we’ve got to get them all thinking alike, buying into the team vision, which is critical to success.” Cignetti explained.
Cignetti sent a strong public message to his players saying “You can’t ever have any selfishness on your team, ever, regardless of who it is. Personal goals are secondary to
team goals. When a team is successful, everyone benefits.”
While Cignetti is eager to put last year’s success into the rearview mirror, it has opened the eyes of many IU alumni and recruits around the country.
“Last year’s success has helped us in so many different ways. It’s helped the university fundraising at all levels, academic and athletic. Indiana has the second-largest alumni base in America to Texas. So there was a lot of Hoosier pride out there.” Cignetti said.
“Obviously it opened a lot of doors in the recruiting process because the first year we were selling promises, things we had accomplished in the past. Now we put it on the field.
So we had better-looking athletes walking through the doors.”
Building up the Indiana football program has taken a massive investment from every stakeholder from fan to board member.
“Nothing good in life comes easy. What’s cheap won’t last. What lasts isn’t cheap. You got
to pay the price every single day, and do it consistently.” Cignetti said.
Indiana has started to pay that price every day and the dividends are starting to pay off.
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