Curt Cignetti makes fiery defense of 'Purdue sucks, and so does Michigan and Ohio State' comments

INDIANAPOLIS – Shortly after he took over as Indiana head coach, Curt Cignetti went viral. He stood at center court at Assembly Hall and detailed his plans at IU, calling out conference rivals in the process.

“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!”

Speaking at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, Cignetti addressed those comments. He called it part of the “entertainment” side of college football – and said he was channeling a former Ohio State coach in the process.

“You know, when you get to be 62, 63, you lose your filter a little bit, right?” Cignetti told reporters. “And when you’re used to success and you’ve been on campus all day and you detect some things you don’t really like, it kind of gets under your skin a little bit. And we are in the entertainment business. This is entertainment. It’s coaching, but it’s entertainment.

“I remember Jim Tressel when he went to Ohio State, I think he said something about beating Michigan. … I just ramped that up a little bit, I guess. We’ve got 17,000 people in the basketball arena, and I’ve got to get them excited.”

Curt Cignetti: ‘You can’t have self-imposed limitations’

While on the stage at Lucas Oil Stadium Thursday afternoon, Cignetti spoke about expectations during his first year at Indiana. The Hoosiers are coming off three straight rough seasons under Tom Allen, going 9-27 during that time, and Cignetti is looking to turn things around.

With that, though, he doesn’t want to just hope to make a bowl game. He’s aiming high, with the ultimate goal of getting to the top of the Big Ten. The comparison he made at the podium was when parents set goals for their kids.

In his breakout session afterward, Cignetti made the same analogy – with the same verbiage.

“The first part was easy,” Cignetti said of firing up the fans. “But then, why stop there and set the bar at 6-6? We’re going after these two. We want to be the best. Like that thing I talked about with the kids. When you compete, you want to be the best.

“You can’t have self-imposed limitations. ‘Oh, if we go to a bowl, it’s a great year.’ Bullshit. That ain’t the goal. The goal’s to be the best. And what you do is you commit to the process and do the things you have to do to be the best you can be, and then, see where you are at the end. You don’t bring the kids up, ‘Mary, I want you to be fifth-best today, 10th-best.’ No. You want them to be the best.”

Indiana will kick off the first year of the Curt Cignetti Era Aug. 31 against FIU in Bloomington.