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Indiana coaching search: Top candidate emerges for Hoosiers job
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Indiana’s coaching search appears to be focusing on a top candidate. John Brice of FootballScoop reports that James Madison coach Curt Cignetti has emerged as the top target for Indiana.
Cignetti has been a head coach since 2011. He got his start IUP, posting a 53-17 record in 6 seasons with the Division II program.
Ahead of the 2017 season, Cignetti made the jump to Division I, becoming the head coach at Elon, an FCS program. He was 14-9 in 2 seasons as the coach of the Phoenix.
Cignetti has been at James Madison since the 2019 season. The Dukes were 33-5 under Cignetti as an FCS program from 2019-to-2021. JMU has played in the Sun Belt of the FBS ranks the past 2 seasons, going 8-3 in 2022 and 11-1 this season.
The 62-year-old Cignetti got into coaching as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 1983. He has also been an assistant at Davidson, Rice, Temple, NC State and Alabama. He was wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator on Nick Saban’s Bama staff 2007-to-2010 before taking his first head coaching job.
Cignetti is 119-35 overall as a head coach. His teams were 4-3 in the DII playoffs and 6-5 in FCS playoff games. James Madison will play its first bowl game this postseason.
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.