Nick Saban reacts to eight-year extension for Curt Cignetti at Indiana

Curt Cignetti is the latest former coach to find success after previously working for Nick Saban. He’s also the next one to get paid, in part, because of it, with Indiana signing him to an eight-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $93.6 million.

Saban spoke about Cignetti’s news while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. He applauded the Hoosiers for the move that reflects their buy-in to football, with them keeping Cignetti, who would’ve been a major target in several of the ongoing or upcoming coaching searches nationally, signed through 2033.

“I do commend Indiana for making the commitment, because, you know, Curt Cignetti would have been the first guy on everybody’s list to hire for every job based on what he’s done at Indiana, and what he’s done at other programs that he’s been at and the success that he’s had his entire career,” Saban said. “So, for them to step up at this point in time and lock him down is really smart on their part if they want to continue to have success as a football program.”

At that point, Saban was asked if age was a factor worth considering with Cignetti being 64. He made sure that they knew that that’s nowhere near being too old to have success coaching in college.

“What is he, 62?” Saban asked. “Yeah, well, we went to the playoffs when I was 72, so I think he’s got some years left.”

Over the past four seasons in the FBS, Cignetti is 36-6 overall (.857) at James Madison and Indiana. That includes a current record of 17-2 overall (.895) through a season and a half with the Hoosiers, with IU going 11-2 and making the College Football Playoff last year. This year, Indiana is 6-0 so far, with a path to be undefeated, make the Big Ten Championship, and, at the very least, make consecutive appearances in the CFP. That resulted in yesterday’s announcement of the extension that was worked out this week, with Cignetti now projected as the third-highest-paid coach in the sport behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.

With so many of his former staff members having success, namely Smart and Cignetti, Saban is proud to see as many of their programs being built with their own cultures and images. Few are then even doing it as well as Cignetti is right now in Bloomington.

“I think that every one of these guys that you’re talking about have created a culture with their players to be able to have success – you know, this is what you have to do to create value for yourself and for the team,” Saban said. “They all do it in a different way, but they all create a culture in their organization that gives the players the best opportunity to have success and their team’s best opportunity to win, and they’re all the same in that. You do want to create an image that’s a positive image that people want to be a part of, and I think he’s doing a good job of that.”

Cignetti might just be getting started at Indiana. Saban is glad to see it, too, with what he has already built with IU.

“He is different. He is, in a good way,” Saban said. “He’s great for Indiana.