Curt Cignetti led Indiana to accomplish a long list of program firsts during its phenomenal 16-0 national championship season. His impact in Bloomington is already being hailed as one of the most remarkable turnarounds in college football history.
The success has been so undeniable that even longtime critics, including SEC analyst Paul Finebaum, have walked back their criticism, as praise for Cignetti continues to roll in from elite voices across the sport.
Curt Cignetti Earns Candid Reviews From Super Bowl Champion HC
Cignetti inherited an Indiana program that had totaled just nine wins over the prior three seasons. At his introductory press conference in 2023, he delivered a line that quickly became memorable: “It’s simple, I win, Google me,” and he backed it up completely by transforming what had long been considered the losingest program in college football history into national champions.
During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, former Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Cowher offered immense praise for Cignetti’s phenomenal rise at Indiana.
“I was just talking to Mark Cuban the other day, and we’re talking about Curt Cignetti and what a great run that is,” Cowher said. “Do you know that I was down at West Virginia football camp when Jim Carlen was there? I was 12 years old his last year. And my that went to next year, it was Bobby Bowden. So it was a Jim Carlin Mountain State Achievement Camp. My parents took me down there. I was 12 years old, and they dropped me off. He said, ‘We’ll be back in a week.’ And I thought I did something wrong at home. I said, you guys are coming back, right? And so they get me.
“So I had those West Virginia roots, and Cignetti kind of just reminds me of that. So what a great run that was, I know deviating from the NFL, but no, I just thought that I think that was fantastic. You guys did a great job with game day, just, you know, the field pass stuff that you guys did. That was really a tremendous run by him and them. And I just love everything he stands for. And obviously Mark Cuban was a big part of that success as well.”
In his first season with Indiana in 2024, Cignetti was named Big Ten Coach of the Year after guiding the Hoosiers to a program-best 11 wins. That 11-2 finish also earned Indiana its first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff.
That debut season laid the foundation for Indiana’s unforgettable 2025 season and Cignetti’s second consecutive Associated Press Coach of the Year honor. According to ESPN Insights, Indiana owned a 6-116-1 record against AP Top-10 opponents from 1899 to 2024.
Means, in 2025 alone, the Hoosiers equaled that win total by going 6-0 against top-10 teams, beating No. 9 Illinois, No. 3 Oregon, No. 1 Ohio State, No. 9 Alabama, and No. 5 Oregon, before closing it out with the championship win over No. 10 Miami.
With this championship win on Monday, the PFSN’s CFB Offense Impact Metric’s No. 1 team, Indiana, also became the first FBS program to complete a perfect 16-win season since the 1894 Yale Bulldogs.
Cignetti further etched his name into history by becoming the first head coach to win a national championship in his first or second season with a program since Gene Chizik accomplished the feat at Auburn 16 years ago. Kudos to Cignetti, as he did all of this without a single five-star recruit on Indiana’s roster.
