Curt Cignetti expresses confidence in Darian DeVries: 'He'll get it done'

During the Hoosiers Connect NIL event “Hoosiers at Huber’s,” Curt Cignetti publicly commented on Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries for the first time.

During Cignetti’s media availability, he mentioned that he hadn’t had much contact with DeVries, presumably because both are busy on the recruiting trail for their respective teams, but that he could appreciate what DeVries is doing from afar.

“Well, you know, I mean, we don’t spend a ton of time together, but we have been to three or four functions together and, you know, he’s a man of action,” Cignetti said.

As a “man of action” himself, this is high praise from Cignetti, as he’s known for his “get after it” attitude, particularly when it comes to recruiting in the transfer portal. Of course, DeVries has been busy in the portal as well, replacing Indiana’s entire roster in just a couple of months, doing so with one of the top portal classes in the country.

Cignetti mentioned this jokingly, saying, “When they hired Darian and he lost his whole roster, money got a little tight ’cause he had to put his team together and I felt the pinch.”

While this was said humorously and with a smile on his face, Cignetti understands just how important of a job DeVries did building the Hoosiers’ roster from scratch, even if it meant he had to share NIL funds with the basketball program.

After his lighthearted joke, Cignetti had more words of praise for DeVries, as he mentioned that he has full and complete confidence in the new leader of Indiana basketball.

“He doesn’t say a lot, and he’s got a plan. He’ll get it done. He’s going to do real well here,” Cignetti said.

These are similar to the words Cignetti used before his first year as football coach, as he was extremely confident and used that mindset to his advantage. Of course, his Hoosiers went 11-2 and made the College Football Playoff, so does that mean that Indiana basketball is destined for a similar fate?

Indiana fans would obviously be overjoyed if that were the case, but Cignetti urged that things don’t always happen overnight.

“And, you know, I think just give him time, you know. This stuff takes time sometimes,” Cignetti said.

While he did mention that Indiana fans should be patient, Cignetti doubled down on his belief that DeVries will bring Indiana basketball back to relevance, making sure that everyone knows that he is 100 percent on board with what DeVries and his staff are doing.

“You’re gonna see results” Cignetti said, in almost a deja vu moment going back to when he took the football job.

MORE: Curt Cignetti calls for clarity amid college athletics chaos, stays neutral on CFP debate

While it’s common to see coaches from different sports at the same university praise each other, especially at an event like Hoosiers at Huber’s, these words of confidence and praise should mean a lot to Indiana fans.

Cignetti isn’t in the business of saying something just to say it. He sees what DeVries has done and he believes in his system, which makes sense because the two are more similar than one might think.

In both of their opening press conferences, both Cignetti and DeVries mentioned the “process” and how the little things will determine the success of their programs. In addition to that, each of them have backgrounds with smaller programs and doing more with less.

“It’s a process. It’s a process, and it’s a way you go about doing things. It’s a standard. It’s an expectation. High standard, high expectation,” Cignetti said back on Dec. 1, 2023, letting everyone know how his Indiana football program would be run.

In a similar way, DeVries said, “We want to be a very process-oriented program with a core fabric built around that work — the people we surround ourselves with and the players who have a desire to be part of something special.”

Both of these coaches put an emphasis on hard work, determination and doing things the right way, so it’s no surprise that Cignetti would appreciate what DeVries is building with Indiana basketball.

While it was no shock to anyone, Cignetti’s words at Huber’s Winery confirmed that the second-year football coach has all the confidence in the world in the first-year basketball coach, as both try to make Indiana a powerhouse in the respective sports.

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