Cignetti Doesn’t Run From the Press: Key Takeaways From Media Day

Indiana Football head coach Curt Cignetti took the Hoosiers to the mountaintop in his second season as their head coach. Cignetti has now brought all the success in the world to this Hoosiers team, and yet the sentiment stays the same as it was two years ago.

Indiana Football Avoids Complacency

Cignetti trusts his staff and his players to avoid bad habits. Everyone is hungry, even the ones who won the national title last year. Nobody cares about last year’s team; everyone avoids that mindset.

“I’m working on things that need worked on that can lead to success, and that everyone is doing their job,” Cignetti said.

It takes everyone to avoid complacency. Everybody needs to work to get better every day. That is what it takes to win. Cignetti puts faith into his guys that they will continue this mantra every day. He is the general, but he still needs his sergeants to contribute. His sergeants need their privates.

“I’ve got guys that’ve been with me a long time that are very capable,” Cignetti said. “We know the program. I’m not a micromanager. Okay, I let people do their jobs, and if there’s something I don’t like, I let them know it”.

Cignetti isn’t going to oversee every small detail of every practice. He enlists guys into roles, and he trusts in that. The day that Cignetti can’t trust his guys to avoid complacency will be the day that Indiana loses.

Recruiting

In the last two recruiting classes, Indiana has grabbed its quarterback first. Cignetti has done this with purpose. He isn’t just messing around.

“We’ve had older guys playing quarterback. It would be nice, maybe, to have a guy a few years, but I’m not going to complain with the success we’ve had,” Cignetti said.

Indiana has gone from Kurtis Rourke to Fernando Mendoza and now to Josh Hoover at quarterback. This rental QB strategy has worked for Indiana, but Cignetti would certainly love to grow a quarterback from within. Tyler Cherry could potentially be that guy, but time will tell on that.

Consistent Football

It’s no secret that Indiana football won the national title through having the most consistent approach to everything. Indiana thrived in their unique balanced football approach. This year, Indiana will no longer be a good story. Indiana is now a known entity. Cignetti, however, isn’t worried about the effect this may have on his football team.

“I don’t look at it like that,” Cignetti said. “I mean, we wake up tomorrow. We’re going to do the things that we have to do to improve as much as possible to put the best day together, and then do the same thing the following day, right? And then it all takes care of itself because I’m a firm believer. You know, you stack days and meetings, and do the proper preparation on a consistent basis”.

Indiana doesn’t care at all about last year. They don’t care about any targets on them. They care only about getting better every day and having a balanced approach to football. When the days pile up, the consistent approach to the gridiron pays off.

Southern Tendencies

Cignetti ended his presser by calling out the whining from teams who didn’t make the College Football Playoff.

“We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” Cignetti said. “We believe everything is earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river, whine, and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”

Cignetti threw shade at Notre Dame and some SEC teams who complained when they didn’t make the playoffs. Cignetti continues to shade the SEC as he did last season when talking about their scheduling philosophy.