While Indiana football has turned the page to its 2026 season, it isn’t quite done setting records from its historic 2025 national championship campaign. Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines was named the Broyles Award winner Thursday in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Haines was one of five finalists for the award, which honors college football’s top assistant coach. Other finalists included University of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, University of Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, Texas Tech University defensive coordinator Shiel Wood and Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
“Those finalists were all fantastic,” Haines said Thursday. “To even be associated with them is a blessing. To hold that trophy and bring it back to Bloomington means the world.”
The 40-year-old Haines is Indiana’s first winner in the award’s 30-year history.
The Hoosiers led the country with 128 tackles for loss and were tied for second in sacks with 45. The Cream and Crimson allowed just 15.3 points per game across their three-game College Football Playoff run.
Indiana was fourth-best nationally in total defense, second-best in scoring defense and forced the third-most turnovers.
Haines, who was a finalist for the award in 2024, began his coaching career at Manchester University in 2009. He made three more stops — including a season as a graduate assistant at Indiana in 2012 — before joining head coach Curt Cignetti’s staff at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2014.
Aside from a season at the University of California, Davis, in 2016, Haines has been with Cignetti ever since. He first began calling defensive plays in 2022 at James Madison University before following Cignetti to Bloomington.
When Cignetti first expressed interest in the Hoosiers’ head coaching vacancyto Haines in 2023, the latter told the former he could win “a lot of football games” at Indiana. Cignetti and his staff are 27-2 over their two seasons thus far.
Haines’ relentless defense is a key factor in the Hoosiers’ success, and he’s set to remain in Bloomington for the foreseeable future. He previously signed a new three-year contract worth $3.1 million annually with Indiana in December after high-profile programs approached him each of the last two years.
“He's a football guy,” Cignetti said Oct. 27. “So, not only is he good at the Xs and Os — and his philosophy is to attack. He wants to attack offenses. So the X and O part of it is his strength, but he's a great teacher. ... And I can't say enough good things about Bryant Haines."
Haines has surely already turned his attention toward his defense for the Hoosiers’ 2026 campaign, as they look to defend their national championship.
Still, Indiana’s 2025 season was unforgettable for the program, including Haines.
"2025's been a fantastic year for me,” Haines said. “It's hard to one-up this one."
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football offseason.
