Curt Cignetti Dreamed Greater — Now Indiana Soccer Is Residing It

EUGENE, Ore. — When it finally ended — when the meaningless heave from Oregon quarterback Dante Moore rattled between bodies and dropped to the Autzen Stadium turf — wave upon wave of deliriously defiant Hoosiers raced toward the west end zone, toward a mob of ebullient Indiana fans that had flown across the country and were now inching ever closer to the front row, encroaching on territory long ago vacated by dejected Ducks supporters. 

Some of Indiana’s players promptly hoisted themselves atop the railing like a modified Lambeau Leap. Others raised their hands and pointed at familiar faces in the stands. Everyone sang, clapped and danced as the fight song blared.

Indiana Hoosiers players and fans celebrate a 30-20 win over the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

And then, after completing a brief postgame interview at midfield, the man that made all of this possible — the architect behind the most radical transformation college football has ever seen, a metamorphosis that spun the program with more losses than anyone in Division I history into a legitimate national championship contender — strode over for the chance to bask in everything he’s built. 

“Cig! Cig! Cig!” the Indiana faithful shrieked, showering their 64-year-old savior in adoration. And when that particular chant had exhausted its lifespan, the Hoosiers immediately launched into another: “Curt Cig-net-ti! Curt Cig-net-ti!” they screamed, stretching their head coach’s surname into three sonorous syllables. 

He was the only man in the country whose dreams were grand enough to even envision something so farfetched, especially at a school where basketball was — and always will be — the main attraction. That he dragged the hapless Hoosiers from there to here in fewer than two seasons, the first of which included a trip to the College Football Playoff, will live forever in the sport’s annals. 

“Cig is a little bit of a unicorn,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said as the waning seconds of Indiana’s stunning, stupendous, 30-20 victory over No. 3 Oregon, which entered the weekend clutching the nation’s longest home winning streak, expired on an unforgettable Saturday afternoon in Eugene, where a crowd of 59,625 witnessed the finest football moment these Hoosiers have ever experienced. “I mean, he’s special, obviously. We’re so fortunate to have him. He’s just perfect for us. Just couldn’t be more proud of him. Everything he said in his interview, he has done. Everything.”

It was a list that included overhauling the culture for a program that, prior to his arrival ahead of the 2024 campaign, had endured 26 losing seasons in the last 29 years, an agonizingly long epoch of futility that included seven head coaches, three winless conference slates and zero postseason victories. 

Cignetti, who had orchestrated incredible revivals at far-flung places like Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison, all of whom he took to the playoffs on multiple occasions, was also tasked with building a roster that could compete in an expanded Big Ten and mobilizing the kind of nonstop fundraising needed to retain the players worth keeping. To anyone outside the Indiana program — and particularly those who had grown accustomed to Indiana’s annual thumpings at the hands of Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State — the prospects for such a turnaround seemed imaginative at best and impossible at worst. 

Cignetti’s engineering of this fairytale, which might well include an undefeated 2025 season given Indiana’s favorable remaining schedule, emerged from a recipe that is equal parts talent, timing and sheer force of will. Though Cignetti had never been the head coach at a Power 4 program, Dolson hired him at a time when the transfer portal and legalized athlete compensation made it possible to integrate scores of new faces all at once. Cignetti brought with him from James Madison more than a dozen primary contributors who quickly formed the backbone of Indiana’s rebuild, both in terms of their on-field production the last two seasons and their assistance in integrating Cignetti’s methodology. 

That nucleus, coupled with Cignetti’s enviable staff continuity, his knack for player development and a shrewd eye for talent — with the latter bringing the Hoosiers back-to-back game changers at quarterback in Kurtis Rourke from Ohio last year and Fernando Mendoza from Cal this year — has allowed Indiana to thrive despite a roster that still ranks 72nd in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite. That’s three spots ahead of Toledo, four spots ahead of Texas State and five spots ahead of Georgia State.

Head coach Curt Cignetti of the Indiana Hoosiers talks with Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the second half against the Oregon Ducks. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

Cignetti’s feat is even more stunning when juxtaposed with a handful of his coaching colleagues who are floundering despite having more resources than Indiana could ever imagine — a searing truth that played out in real time on Saturday afternoon when Penn State and its embattled leader, James Franklin, suffered a stunning loss to Northwestern as the Hoosiers limited mighty Oregon to just 267 yards of total offense and notched a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions. The same general principle holds true for Steve Sarkisian at Texas, Lincoln Riley at USC, Billy Napier at Florida and Mike Norvell at Florida State.

“When we first got here,” said linebacker Aiden Fisher, who followed Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana, “all this team knew was losing football. We were not used to be being in big games. We’re used to losing the games and just kind of being, like, the punching bag of the Big Ten. I think we did a great job as soon as we got here of changing the way Indiana thinks, changing the way we think as individuals. 

“[Now] we’re primed for video games like this. That is why we come to Indiana. You need to play in top-ranked matchups, you need to win top-ranked matchups, and also you need to play for any person like Coach Cig who’s so assured in himself that it simply flows into his gamers. This program is at a very great spot proper now with Coach Cig on the helm of it and simply how a lot he believes in his gamers and the way a lot we imagine in him.”

Head coach Curt Cignetti of the Indiana Hoosiers appears to be like onto the sphere throughout the second half in opposition to the Oregon Geese. (Picture by Soobum Im/Getty Photos)

They believed in Cignetti on a day when tailgaters — legions of them — arrived right here earlier than daybreak for what was purported to be Oregon’s second consecutive victory in opposition to a top-10 opponent, having beforehand crushed then-No. 3 Penn State earlier than the bye week. The Geese’ devoted braved intermittent spats of mist and drizzle to revel within the recreation day festivities, to see head coach Dan Lanning take away his blazer, hoodie and undershirt till he stood bare-chested on nationwide tv, all whereas the temperature hovered within the mid-40s at that hour. 

Followers had been shepherded into place hours earlier by scores of motorcycle-riding cops whose neon inexperienced helmets are designed to imitate these worn by the Geese. And their processionary stroll towards Autzen Stadium shortly earlier than this 12:30 p.m. native kickoff carried them previous an infinite crane from which an Oregon flag overhung Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with a “Simply Do It” banner aligned vertically alongside the machine’s backbone.

That phrase, sloganized by Nike, whose billionaire co-founder, Phil Knight, stays this system’s deepest-pocketed benefactor, is emblematic of the Geese’ ascension to school soccer’s elite tier — particularly for the reason that creation of title, picture and likeness compensation for athletes, with droves of blue-chip recruits desperate to play for Lanning and a forward-thinking regime that has produced 18 draft picks over the past two years. That Lanning’s highschool recruiting courses and switch portal courses have all ranked among the many high 5 nationally throughout the identical timeframe entrenched Oregon as the one Massive Ten program able to matching, or maybe exceeding, Ohio State in relation to participant acquisition. 

And but it was Cignetti’s grizzled group that bullied the high-flying Geese when it mattered most on Saturday afternoon, producing the ultimate 10 factors in a recreation that was tied, 20-20, with 12:42 remaining. It was Mendoza who threw a fantastic back-shoulder cross to wideout Elijah Sarratt — one other Cignetti disciple from James Madison — for the go-ahead landing with 6:23 remaining. And it was veteran security Louis Moore, who started his profession at Indiana in 2022 after which left for Ole Miss two years later, who snatched the game-clinching interception now that he’s again with the Hoosiers for a second tour, desperate to rejoin what Cignetti is constructing. 

“An important factor to me was our mindset going into this recreation,” Cignetti mentioned. “That we believed, anticipated, ready to make it occur and will deal with the ups and downs of the sport with out flinching, exhibiting frustration or anxiousness. And that was the one factor you don’t know [about your team] till you play the sport. And we handed that take a look at.”

They handed it so convincingly that Indiana’s supporters spilled onto the sphere for an opportunity to affix the celebration. A crowd gathered behind Cignetti as he carried out an interview with the on-site broadcast crew. A number of of us donning Hoosier pink needed to tear down the purpose posts and take items again to Bloomington. One fan referred to as for the varsity’s administration to extend Cignetti’s pay to $20 million or $30 million per yr if that’s what is required to maintain him. “Doesn’t matter what it prices,” the person yelled. “Pay him!”

And after what occurred right here on Saturday, when Cignetti notched the best win in class historical past, there’s no query the Hoosiers can be clutching onto their unicorn for so long as they presumably can.

Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and faculty basketball for FOX Sports activities. Comply with him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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