Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti wrapped up Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on Thursday. Cignetti spoke last at the three-day event after winning the College Football Playoff National Championship and the Big Ten championship last season.
Cignetti spoke on the potential expansion of Memorial Stadium, player development and turning the page from the 2025 season.
Then he fielded questions about sponsorship patches, redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover’s skill set, junior wide receiver Nick Mash, the transfer portal class and keeping the culture from last season as they go into the 2026 campaign.
Here is everything Cignetti said heading into his third season with the Hoosiers:
Opening statement: “End of Big Ten Media Day; everybody ready to get out of here and get home? Guess not.
It's great to be up here today on two feet and still be on the roster, year 44. Really looking forward to the season. Anxious to get to camp.
First of all, I'd like to thank Tony Petitti for his tremendous leadership in the Big Ten. He is a great leader, navigating this conference through some difficult times and continuing to grow and build the brand.
I'd like to also thank Pam Whitten and Scott Dolson, our president and athletic director, who have been behind us lock, stock and barrel, committed 100%.
I formed a relationship with President Whitten and Scott in about 48 hours and had to make a decision on whether to take this job. I had such a strong feeling about both of them, we decided to make the move. As everybody knows, nothing great happens without commitment from the top.
I'd also like to thank our fans who have grown and multiplied and turned out in record numbers for the College Football Playoff. We probably had 75% of the people out there for the Rose Bowl, about 95% for the Peach Bowl and for the National Championship on the opponent's home field we probably had about 60% there. We probably can't expand the stadium soon enough, but those kind of things take time.
I thought we took some necessary steps forward last season in year two. We beat six top-10 teams, beat the No. 1 ranked team, No. 2, No. 2, No. 3, No. 8 and No. 9, six top-10 wins.
I think the Oregon game on the road was the first against a top-5 team on the road ever. We also had five fourth-quarter wins, four on the road. When you look at Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and — I don't know, maybe Miami was the other one.
It's a great conference. Got a lot of respect for the head coaches and the programs in this conference. There's great coaches top to bottom. A lot of programs are getting better.
I'm anxious to get to camp. We had a good spring, but when you play 16 games, you come out of a season like that, you have some postseason surgeries, you've got some new portal guys that show up that have worked on it at their prior institution. So, I'm really anxious to get the team together for the first time and develop them.
I think we have a lot of nice pieces. I think we excel at development and creating the intangibles, and once we get closer to the season as a staff, it's extremely beneficial. The staff continuity that I have had, that President Whitten and Scott Dolson make possible, we're on the same page. They know the blueprint, the process, the plan, okay.
What it really does, to be honest with you, and we're still trying to get better, we're trying to improve the way we do things, is those down times can really be down times for the coaches, which they like their quality of life with me, as I think the players do too, with the way we practice.
All I can say is, like, going into this season, I know I'm going to get asked some questions. We're very process driven. Our focus is on the things you have to do in the here and now to improve as much as possible. To improve as much as possible today. Those types of things. We don't talk about product, results. We don't talk about championships, playoffs, National Championships, those sorts of things, okay.
I'm a firm believer in our blueprint. Our Monday morning meeting will be very similar to what it was eight years ago. It'll be about an hour long. There's certain things we'll do in there, there's certain things I'll say in the team meeting Tuesday night that I said eight years ago. It's not word for word, but it's pretty damn close.
The way we practice, pretty similar to what we did eight years ago. We have a way of doing things. We've got guys that have been together, and all we do is win.
We have a good culture downstairs. I'm going to get asked about the JMU guys. All the guys that have been with us for two years that were at Indiana my first year, they're the JMU guys, okay. We've added a lot of nice pieces in the portal. I think we've got a chance to develop.
But the season is not a sprint, it's a marathon. A marathon, and you've got to be able to handle success, failure, stay relatively healthy, even though when you look at it last year, we lost our two defensive ends. Wyatt was playing great football, so was Daley, and we had guys step up, step in and still be successful.
I'm really excited. I've been on vacation long enough. I'm tired of being bossed around by my wife. I'm ready to boss somebody else around and develop a football team.
It's all about development, okay. Player development, team development, positional development and developing the intangibles, the mindset and the identity of your football team.”
On the similarities and differences between Josh Hoover and Fernando Mendoza: “They both played quarterback, they were both starting quarterbacks where they came from. Josh Hoover has won a lot of football games, thrown for a lot of yards, thrown a lot of touchdown passes. He has an innate ability to play the position of quarterback, kind of a natural passer, very accurate, processes very quickly.
I think the things we'll ask him to do are different than the things TCU asked him to do. We're not going to put the ball in his hand and say go win the game and outscore people. We're going to give him a run game, a defense and special teams and, every once in a while on third down, a punch-positive play.
Fernando Mendoza was a little taller. He may have had a little bit of a stronger arm. But he was probably more raw fundamentally and just playing the position of quarterback, still learning.
The thing I'll say with Fernando is from a preparation standpoint, he did everything within the realm of possibility to become the best he could be. And I think what separated Fernando was when the game was on the line, those fourth-quarter wins, the last three minutes, four minutes, that's when he played his best football. He was a tremendous competitor.
I'm really anxious to see Josh and the progress he's made in practice starting on Wednesday and fall camp. All the one-year quarterbacks have followed the same line, and I expect him to, as well.
I think this team has got a lot of nice pieces.”
On holding players accountable to the standard in the locker room: “Well, I mean, that's culture. That's leadership. That's where having guys that have been in the program and been successful, they have strong character and are smart, helps. I like to recruit good players that are smart and have strong character because you can do a lot with guys like that.
I think a part of the key to the drill is getting everybody to think alike. That's where my messaging is important and upholding a standard and having accountability.
But look, you've got to have the right people in place. You've got to have a process and people in place. We have the right people in place, upstairs and downstairs. I feel very strongly about that.
I'll be stalking complacency. I know that question is coming. But I like what I've seen so far.”
On the new transfers and Nick Marsh’s adjustment at Indiana: “Yeah, I really like our transfer class. I think we did extremely well and under tough circumstances where we were playing deep into the playoffs. I think we filled some critical needs.
I think Nick Marsh is a proven two-year player at wide receiver, very productive. I think you're probably talking about the golden shoes the first day of practice. We don't do that where I coach. He got the message, and he's been great. He had a great summer, and I'm expecting big things from him.
And I'm expecting all the transfers, really, when they step on the field in training camp, to be a lot better than they were in spring because it's their second time through it.”
On the differences between this year’s team compared to previous seasons: “I mean, it's different people. So, there's going to be a little bit of a different team, but it's going to be more same than different. All of our teams have been successful because they're more similar than different, right.
We don't turn it over, we play smart, all three phases play off each other. We stop the run, we run the ball, we're good in the red area, touchdown percentage, 3rd and 4th down percentage. Those are things I want to continue to do. The faces just change a little bit.
The tweaks, probably the average fan probably doesn't notice the tweaks, to be honest with you, which are things that we do that we think will give our players the best chance schematically. But the schematic part of it is really overrated; blocking, tackling, running, throwing and catching is the key to the drill.
We've got to create the identity, the mindset, the relentlessness, the resiliency, and we've got 17 new transfers, which is about par for the course across college football right now, and further indoctrinate them into how we do things.”
On how to stay competitive while maintaining the culture from year to year: “Well, the guys that earn NIL, let's say they earn a big number. They've earned that number. Nothing is given. Everything is earned, not given. They've earned it based on their production. If they're highly productive, that probably means they want to be a great player.
I've never known a great player that didn't want coached, and to be the very best you can be, sometimes you've got to take a guy out of his comfort zone for him to improve as much as possible.
So, I don't know. Some people might call it old school, but we're very demanding to a standard, but everything we ask of our guys is reasonable and fair, and I think they view it that way, too. I think they like the way we take care of them in terms of time on the field and banging and clanging and things like that.
But look, what separated last year's team from the other really good teams I had was their day in, day out consistency. They stacked meetings. They stacked practices. They went into every game with the right mindset and respect for the challenge, and then they put it between the white lines and did the things that we emphasized. You've heard my mantra before, okay. The consistency part.
If I have a guy that consistently cannot do his best, cannot be on time, cannot rub off positively on others, is uncoachable, he's not going to be in my program. Right? He's not going to be in my program. The guys that are really productive, they get paid. They get paid.
So we've tried to adjust, improvise and navigate those kind of unpredictable waters for the last few years, and I think we've done okay.”
On the grind of the Big Ten season: “I think that's a loaded question. I think your job as the head coach and the assistants is to equip your roster, make it as strong as possible with adequate depth at every position throughout the team.
When you play that many games, you're going to get some guys dinged and injured, things happen, next-man-up mentality.
The Big Ten is the best league in football, and a lot of really good football teams it's hard to win on the road, very physical football teams, very well-coached. It definitely prepares you for the playoffs.
There's no doubt about it, the numbers speak for themselves.
We don't run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything is earned, not given. 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 and Indiana begin the regular season against the University of North Texas on Sept. 5 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
