Urban Meyer predicts Curt Cignetti makes Indiana a consistent College Football Playoff team

Indiana is once again off to a rip-roaring start to the season, thanks to a demolition of a Top 10 Illinois squad last week. Coach Curt Cignetti has the program absolutely firing on all cylinders.

But that could also make him a hot commodity elsewhere. FOX Sports analyst Urban Meyer doesn’t see him leaving, though.

In fact, the former coach provided several reasons that Cignetti might stay put despite outside interest. He also gave a rosy outlook for where Indiana could be headed under Cignetti’s leadership.

“I think he stays,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “I think he turns Indiana — it’s incredible to say this — to a playoff team every year. Maybe not make it, but they’re in the conversation.”

Indiana already has one playoff berth to its name under Curt Cignetti. The program pulled off that feat a year ago, a real shocker in the college football world.

It seems less surprising now that Indiana looks poised to duplicate the feat in 2025. With that comes a new spotlight on Cignetti.

Many other teams that are looking for a coach will undoubtedly come calling. Or will they? Meyer offered an interesting take on that when it comes to Curt Cignetti.

“I see, I think it says $13 million to leave,” he said, referencing Cignetti’s buyout. “And again, now, this just comes from an assistant athletic director at a blueblood school that is going through it a little bit, told me that they have no money. There’s no longer money in college football.”

The advent of full-blown NIL has certainly shifted the priorities for programs a touch, but surely someone would have the money to poach Curt Cignetti should it really want the coach, no? Meyer isn’t so sold.

“To fire a coach and hire someone and pay a $13 million buyout, I mean, I don’t think you can do it,” Meyer said. “Money, the thing we have to understand to get your mind right, and I lived in this world, there’s always a budget, but there really wasn’t. You could really work things. This coach had a $400,000 buyout, this, and I remember dealing with all that.

“Now all the sudden, they come to you and there’s a spreadsheet and it’s called revenue and expenses. And when the expenses are far greater than the revenue, once again, I’m not a math major or a business guy, but what the sh*t? You’ve got a problem.”

Co-host Mark Ingram pushed back a little bit on the podcast before the two came to an impasse. Urban Meyer is convinced Curt Cignetti isn’t going anywhere in the short term.

“I get it, but it’s not what they’re paying (the coach they’re hiring),” Meyer said. “They’re going to pay $60 million or something, $50 million, because they’ve got to buy out the coach they’re firing. They’ve got to buy out the whole assistant staff.”

Prohibitive? Maybe. Indiana fans will certainly be hoping so when it comes to Curt Cignetti.