Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti Learned Valuable Lesson in Keeping Your Mouth Shut | Deadspin.com

Published

12 months ago

December 21, 2024

Indiana's Curt Cignetti Learned Valuable Lesson in Keeping Your Mouth Shut | Deadspin.com

“Don’t write a check with your mouth that your ass can’t cash.”

My mom once told me that growing up. Can’t quite remember why. Somebody should probably tell that to Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, who did a lot of talking all season long just to get demoralized in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Way back when Cignetti got hired in November 2023 after a successful run with James Madison University, he was asked about how he plans on getting recruits to come to an Indiana program that appeared to be rebuilding.

“Google me,” Cignetti said. “I win.”

Cignetti backed that statement up. He landed starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke in December and running backs Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton.

The season could not have started any better for Cignetti’s Hoosiers, as their unbeaten 10-0 record had the attention of the nation before getting curb stomped 38-15 by Ohio State.

Before his first real test against the Buckeyes, Cignetti said, “Ohio State sucks,” at halftime of an Indiana basketball game. Bulletin board material? Sure seemed that was as Ohio State quarterback Will Howard went viral for “putting out the cig” celebration after thrashing the Hoosiers in Columbus.

That should have been Cignetti’s first lesson: to keep his yap shut. He did not learn.

Indiana bounced back from that loss with a 66-0 rout of the Purdue Boilermakers. Despite Purdue’s hapless 1-11 record, that victory put the wind right back in Cignetti’s sails before their College Football Playoff matchup with Notre Dame.

“We don’t just beat top 25 teams, we beat the shit out of them.”

That’s what Cignetti actually said on the set of ESPN’s College Game Day just hours before the Hoosiers kicked off with the Fighting Irish. It’s important to note that despite Cignetti’s impressive 11-1 record in his first year coaching Indiana, literally none of those victories came against Top 25 teams.

To make things even more hilarious, No. 5 Notre Dame completely embarrassed Indiana in a game where the Hoosiers looked like they did not belong on that same stage.

It’s a friendly reminder for the new coach of Indiana to just keep his mouth shut. Every time he opened it this year, he paid the price. It’s part of what made Indiana a story for a little while, but when the lights were the brightest, Cignetti’s team wasn’t as bold as his comments to the media.

That’s never a good thing.

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Indiana

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Published

10 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Former UConn forward, NBC Sports broadcaster Donny Marshall knows a thing or two about talented UConn guards.

The former Husky played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun and was teammates with the fifth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, 10-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen. Watching UConn play against Butler on Tuesday night, Marshall said he sees a lot of Allen in reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins.

Mullins made the second start of his career against the Bulldogs. The former Greenfield-Central star missed UConn’s first six games of the regular season with an injury, but the 6-foot-6 guard is quickly coming into his own and showing why he’s a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Against Butler, Mullins showed off his sweet jump shot, going 2 for 5 from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

“He’s a scorer,” Butler coach Thad Matta said of Mullins. “He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He gets his shot off quick. They move him around and create some angles for him. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player.”

Mullins did most of his damage in the first half, scoring eight of his 12 points before halftime. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in UConn’s 2025 class. Butler’s top-ranked recruit, Azavier “Stink” Robinson isn’t the NBA prospect Mullins is, but he held his own after a shaky start to the game.

Robinson has been thrust into the starting lineup with starter Jalen Jackson out for the season with an ankle injury. Robinson looked out of sorts at times in the first half, going scoreless with two assists and a turnover. In the second half, Matta moved him off the ball, giving him catch-and-shoot looks, and opportunities to drive to the basket without worrying about running the offense.

The former Lawrence North star responded with one of the better halves of his career, scoring 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting, including 2 for 5 from 3 to go along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover.

Facing a veteran team like UConn, nothing comes easy. UConn’s guards harass ball handlers and getting into an offensive set is not easy. This time last year, Robinson was still in high school and, on most nights, the most athletic player on the court. Playing a UConn team where the goal is a national championship, Robinson was forced to grow, and he did not back down from the challenge in the second half.

“He’s coming along,” Matta said of Robinson. “That’s the first Big East road game of his career against maybe the best team in the country. It tells you how tough he is. He’s resilient. He keeps going.”

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Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Published

22 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Curt Cignetti has been named The Associated Press coach of the year in college football for the second consecutive season. He is the first coach to win the award back-to-back since it was first presented in 1998. Cignetti has led Indiana to unprecedented success, with a 24-2 record over two seasons. The Hoosiers are 13-0 this year, Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967, and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea received two each, and Virginia’s Tony Elliott got one.

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Indiana

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

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