Curt Cignetti coaching history: Career record, more to know of Indiana football coach

At the news conference formally introducing him as Indiana’s new football coach last December, Curt Cignetti had a simple message when asked about how he will sell the Hoosiers to prospective recruits, the kind he would need to turn around the program’s fortunes.

“I win,” he said. “Google me.”

A quick and easy internet search will confirm his words were as true as they were confident.

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Throughout his 40-year coaching career, Cignetti has been a part of dozens of winning teams. As a head coach, that has been especially true, with a successful five-year run at James Madison serving as the latest example of his prowess.

At Indiana, he’ll face perhaps his biggest challenge yet.

Though they’ve had spurts of success — most recently, the pandemic-affected 2020 season in which they went 6-2 and rose into the top 10 of the national polls — the Hoosiers have largely been a basketball school working to compete in one of college football’s best conferences.

Over the past 30 seasons, they’ve made just five bowl appearances, losing each. They haven’t won even a share of a Big Ten championship since 1967. Since that stellar 2020 run, they’re just 9-27.

If Cignetti’s resume and background are indicative of anything, that may soon change. Ahead of Indiana’s 2024 season opener against Florida International Saturday, here’s a look at Cignetti’s coaching career, record and more:

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Curt Cignetti coaching career

Cignetti’s path to becoming a head coach in a “Power Four” conference was long and hard-earned.

Shortly after graduating from West Virginia, Cignetti got his start in his hometown of Pittsburgh as a graduate assistant at Pitt, where in 1993 he returned to stay for seven seasons as the quarterbacks and tight ends coach.

After that came another lengthy stint at NC State, where he was the quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach, as well as the recruiting coordinator. Among the players he coached during his seven seasons there was future top-five NFL draft pick and Pro Bowler Philip Rivers.

When Nick Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007, Cignetti served as the Crimson Tide’s recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2007-10. During that time, he helped Alabama bring in No. 1 recruiting classes in 2008 and 2009 and, by the end of the 2009 season, the Tide won its first national championship since 1992.

Following the 2010 season, Cignetti took over as the head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), a Division II program about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. Over six years, he guided the Crimson Hawks to the Division II playoffs three times and finished in the top 25 four times.

That success earned him a jump to FCS program Elon, where he went 14-9 over two seasons, a drastic improvement over the 12-45 record the Phoenix compiled in the previous five seasons. They made the FCS playoffs in both seasons, just the second and third time they had ever done so.

In December 2018, Cignetti was hired at James Madison, which had won the FCS championship three years earlier. In his first season, the Dukes went 14-2, a five-win improvement from the previous season, and made it to the FCS championship, losing narrowly to North Dakota State. Under Cignetti, they made the FCS semifinals in each of the next two seasons.

In 2022, James Madison made a long-awaited transition to the FBS. In their first season, the Dukes went 8-3 and finished in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt East Division. As a first-year FBS program, however, they were ineligible for a bowl game. The 2023 season had even more in store for James Madison, which started 10-0 and rose as high as No. 21 in the US LBM Coaches Poll before finishing the regular season 11-1. For his efforts, Cignetti was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year.

Here’s a look at Cignetti’s coaching stops.

Head coach unless specified

• 1983-84: Pitt (GA)
• 1985: Davidson (QB/WR coach)
• 1986-88: Rice (QB coach)
• 1989-92: Temple (QB coach)
• 1993-99: Pitt (QB/WR coach)
• 2000-06: NC State (recruiting coordinator, QB/WR coach)
• 2007-10: Alabama (recruiting coordinator, WR coach)
• 2011-16: IUP
• 2017-18: Elon
• 2019-23: James Madison
• 2024-present: Indiana

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Curt Cignetti record

Over his 13 seasons as a head coach, Cignetti has a record of 119-35, including a 74-20 mark in conference play.

• IUP: 53-17 overall (33-11 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference)
• Elon: 14-9 overall (10-5 Coastal Athletic Association)
• James Madison: 52-9 overall (18-1 CAA) (13-3 Sun Belt)

Curt Cignetti father

Coaching came naturally to Cignetti. After all, it runs in the family.

Cignetti’s father, the late Frank Cignetti, was a longtime college coach. He was the head coach at West Virginia from 1976-79, where he went 17-27. He was named the athletic director at IUP in 1982 and took over as the school’s football coach in 1986. He led the Crimson Hawks for 20 seasons, piloting them to a 182-50-1 record, 13 NCAA playoff berths and two appearances in the national championship game.

He retired after the 2005 season and six years later, his son took over his old post. The elder Cignetti was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Curt Cignetti’s younger brother, Frank Cignetti Jr., is also a coach. He was most recently the offensive coordinator at Pitt before being fired after the 2023 season.

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Curt Cignetti contract

Cignetti will earn $4.25 million in first year of his contract with Indiana, a significant financial step up from the $677,311 he made in his final season at James Madison.

According to terms of a memorandum of understanding he signed in December, Cignetti will make at least $27 million across six seasons at Indiana, not including bonuses and performance incentives.

Tom Allen, Cignetti’s predecessor, brought in $4.51 million in total pay in his final season as the Hoosiers’ coach, according to USA TODAY Sports’ coaching salary database.

Curt Cignetti age

Cignetti, born June 2, 1961, is 63 years old.