Curt Cignetti introduced to Indiana crowd: 'Purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State'

Just a day after Indiana announced his hiring as head football coach, Curt Cignetti has been making the media rounds. His whirlwind day ended with a Friday night appearance at Assembly Hall for the Hoosiers’ men’s basketball game against Maryland, marking his first appearance at an IU sporting event.

It’s safe to say, he made a strong first impression.

“Hey, look, I’m super fired up about this opportunity,” Cignetti told the crowd. “I’ve never taken a back seat to anybody and don’t plan on starting now. Purdue sucks… but so does Michigan and Ohio State! Go IU!”

“Purdue sucks…so does Michigan and Ohio State” …Curt Cignetti has arrived in the Big Ten pic.twitter.com/4Edzp3z5Zo

— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) December 2, 2023

Cignetti has been introducing himself to Hoosier Nation for the last couple days since IU announced he was leaving James Madison to take over for Tom Allen. He also appeared on Big Ten Network — just a short drive away in Indianapolis for the conference championship — and predicted Indiana would be at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Cignetti played a key role in JMU’s rise in the Sun Belt over the last two seasons as the Dukes transitioned to FBS. This year, they became the talk of college football as they started out 10-0 before falling to Appalachian State. Per NCAA rules, the program could not be eligible for bowl games because it was transitioning. However, because not enough teams hit the six-win threshold, JMU can participate in a bowl game this year.

During his time in Harrisonburg, Cignetti has amassed a 52-9 record. Since James Madison moved to FBS and the Sun Belt, his record is 19-4 — including a 13-3 mark in conference play. JMU won the Sun Belt East both years, but because the Dukes couldn’t play in a bowl game, they couldn’t participate in the conference championship.

Curt Cignetti, 62, played quarterback at West Virginia before immediately getting into coaching. He started out as a graduate assistant at Pitt from 1983-84 before stints at Davidson, Rice and Temple as a quarterbacks coach. In 1993, he returned to Pitt as quarterbacks and tight ends coach before heading to NC State in 2000.

Then, in 2007, Cignetti became part of Nick Saban’s first staff at Alabama as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach. He remained in the role until 2011 when he landed his first head coach opportunity at Division-II Indiana University-Pennsylvania five years after his dad, Frank Cignetti, retired. He totaled a 53-17 record before departing for Elon in 2017.

Indiana moved to fire Allen last week after seven full years as head coach. The Hoosiers made it to back-to-back bowl games in 2019 and 2020, combining for a 14-7 record over that time, but struggled to a 9-27 record in the three years since.