MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Head coaching openings are inevitable during every college football season. Some coaches’ names constantly float around as potential candidates elsewhere.
Curt Cignetti has become just that. His name was thrown around after Penn State fired former head coach James Franklin, but he ultimately signed a new contract in mid-October. NFL analysts have also suggested organizations in the league should pursue him.
Ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship game, the second-year Indiana football head coach was asked about any potential NFL head-coaching interest.
“I mean, I'm not an NFL guy,” Cignetti said.
Cignetti played quarterback at West Virginia University before becoming a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh in 1983. He stopped at four different schools as an assistant coach before he sought a job elsewhere after the 1999 season at Pitt.
One of Cignetti’s potential opportunities was in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers. He could’ve worked under Packers head coach Mike Sherman and offensive coordinator Tom Rossley as the assistant quarterbacks coach.
Cignetti would’ve helped coach Brett Favre, who became an 11-time Pro-Bowler and one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. But Cignetti turned down the position, as the Packers went on to hire Darrell Bevell, who has served as the Miami Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator since 2022.
Despite almost taking the job with the Packers, Cignetti opted to join head coach Chuck Amato’s staff at North Carolina State University for the 2000 season as the tight ends coach.
“That's when I made the final decision,” Cignetti said.
He spent seven seasons with Amato and the Wolfpack before joining Nick Saban’s inaugural coaching staff at the University of Alabama in 2007. After four seasons with the Crimson Tide, Cignetti landed his first head coaching job at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2011.
After two more stops at Elon University and James Madison University, Cignetti became Indiana’s head coach in November 2023. The Hoosiers are 26-2 across his two seasons at the helm in Bloomington.
Now, Indiana has an opportunity to join college football immortality with its first national championship should it defeat the No. 10 University of Miami — a storybook ending to Cignetti’s 15th season as a head coach.
Perhaps Cignetti, who often scowls on the sideline and appears never satisfied, may smile after a victory in the sport’s most important game. After all, he said he’s “always been more of a college football guy.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
