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Curt Cignetti doubles down on bravado, claims outgoing IU transfers ‘did me a favor’
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Curt Cignetti walked into Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday ready to make his first-ever Big Ten Media Days appearance as the head coach at Indiana. Whenever he leaves the building, he will depart after making a splash entrance to the league.
While at the main podium, Cignetti did not back down from calling out the naysayers around the Hoosiers. In the preseason B1G poll, Indiana was selected to finish 17th out of 18 teams, beating out only in-state rival Purdue who is coming off a 4-8 season.
Cignetti says he understands the why. But he also informed those in attendance that his previous teams predicted to finish 2nd-to-last would go on to play for a conference championship.
His bravado surrounding the Hoosiers and expectations for the program spilled over into his side session with the media. Cignetti admitted a turbulent December was necessary to re-shape the IU roster, even claiming some of the departing players “did me a favor” after conducting interviews.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on the team’s turbulent December after taking over: “I knew when we came in when we started interviewing the old players, that we needed a lot of new faces and fortunately they did me a favor by leaving.”
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) July 25, 2024
During his interview with the BTN crew, Cignetti reiterated his transfer portal haul of 31 players helped turn things over in a hurry. That includes 10 players who followed Cignetti from James Madison, a group he credits for accelerating the cultural turnaround of the Hoosiers.
“That really accelerated what we were trying to get done from a culture standpoint. Because that was a championship football program (at James Madison) and those were among the 10 best players returning on that football team,” said Cignetti. “And that was not the plan when I took the job, but that’s the portal nowadays. And if I wasn’t recruiting them, someone else would have.”
Cignetti didn’t stop there, even taking aim at the Rose Bowl as “an old stadium” where Indiana’s heading “to kick somebody’s ass” when the Hoosiers face the Bruins on Sept. 14. While the head coach acknowledged that is his team’s mindset and not a shot at UCLA, one can bet this is some fresh bulletin board material for DeShaun Foster’s team.
Curt Cignetti on IU playing a game this year at Rose Bowl Stadium: “We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s ass. That’s not directed to UCLA, that’s the objective every week.”
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) July 25, 2024
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.