On Indiana's road to the national championship, Curt Cignetti's message has never wavered

In January of 2024, Curt Cignetti addressed his team for the first time inside the Don Croftcheck Team Room tucked into the northeast corner of Indiana’s Memorial Stadium.

His message was clear. It’s also the same message he’s reiterated every day since.

The Hoosiers were going to become winners. That was a non-negotiable. The Indiana football of old was out the door the minute Cignetti stepped foot in Bloomington, as his message was going to take the losingest FBS program to the top of the sport.

Fast-forward two years, and nothing has changed about the way Cignetti runs his program. It’s the same mindset, same preparation, same intensity, and it’s taken the No. 1-ranked Hoosiers to the 2026 National Championship Game against Miami.

Indiana, the No. 1 team in the country— unheard of. And in the national championship — unthinkable. Yet,  the process was set in motion the very first time Cignetti spoke to the Hoosiers as a team.

“It was just like he was coming in to win, you know. He came in and stepped his foot down like, ‘I’m going to come here to win. I’m not coming here to do anything else,’” safety Amare Ferrell explained during national championship media day Saturday.

Anything less than a winning football team was going to be unacceptable, and that was apparent to those lining the chairs inside the team room. Cignetti had a plan, his staff was already on board, and it was up to the players to follow.

And they most certainly did. With former James Madison players as the leaders, the group of transfers, incoming recruits and holdovers from the old Indiana staff came together and built something that few Hoosier fans could have ever expected.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said, describing his decision to follow Cignetti from JMU to IU.

“I trust Coach Cignetti’s plan. He has a blueprint to win…It was just about trusting him, trusting that he was going to bring in the right people.”

Fisher has echoed Cignetti’s mindset more than any other player these past two years. He’s almost a mirror image of his coach in terms of a fearless mentality, will to win and steadfast focus on whatever task is at hand.

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Indiana has never been concerned with the noise surrounding it. When it was being doubted? Nothing. And when folks are giving the Hoosiers their flowers at 15-0? Radio silence. It’s all about preparation, all the time, leading Indiana to the pinnacle of college football.

And it all starts with the man at the top.

“In his mind, he’s honestly a freak. The way he watches and loves football is just unreal. It’s really unheard of these days. He spends all day watching film, but he also makes sure he takes care of his staff, his people and the team,” running back Kaelon Black, another JMU transfer, said.

But James Madison transfers weren’t the only ones to hear Cignetti’s message and take it to heart. In fact, those who were on Indiana’s roster during Tom Allen’s tenure may have been the most motivated by what they heard from the new head coach.

“Seeing (Tom) Allen up front for the past two years, it was definitely a change. (Cignetti) had a different attitude too, which was always bound to happen, but it was definitely better,” left tackle Carter Smith explained.

From the get-go, Cignetti displayed that he wasn’t just any other coach. His philosophy might not deviate too much from the average leader of a program, but the way he lives it — watching film whenever possible, never accepting complacency and exuding an infectious confidence — sets him apart.

Linebacker Rolijah Hardy described Cignetti as a “business-type” in the way he handles himself on and off the field. It’s all about what his team needs, and he doesn’t have the Hoosiers do anything without a purpose.

“He’s a very serious guy, so when we’re in the facility, that’s how we treat everybody. We’re there for a reason,” Hardy added.

The linebacker wasn’t there during Cignetti’s first team meeting, as he joined the Hoosiers in the summer of 2024, but the message he got from Cignetti was no different than the one the rest of the team received.

Wide receiver Charlie Becker was the same way. He joined IU as an incoming freshman during summer ball, but it didn’t matter. The standard had already been set, and once it was implemented, there was no changing it.

“He was like, ‘Listen, here are our goals. We’re going to win.’ He’s like, ‘Y’all just have to trust.’ And we did, and we trusted in the coaching,” Becker said.

“Coach Cig, Coach Shanahan and all the other coaches that brought us in, and I think it’s paid off.”

And it certainly has. Indiana is 60 minutes of football away from immortality. The Hoosiers are so close to the first 16-0 season in modern college football history, and in order to do so, they’re using the same values that Cignetti instilled during his opening remarks to his Indiana players.

“Cignetti is a guy who’s always true to his philosophies and his standards. He really doesn’t change,” defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe said.

“Through the ups and downs of the game, you probably see all types of memes of him just staying straight-faced — he looks mad. But it’s really him holding us to the same philosophies and standards that we practice and preach.”

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Nothing has changed about how Cignetti has run his program. The only thing that has is the level of Indiana’s success.

The 2024 season might not have ended the way the Hoosiers wanted it to, but it was a building block. The message hasn’t changed, and the mindset hasn’t changed, but with a year of experience under its belt with Cignetti at the helm, Indiana has been able to soar.

And it all began inside Indiana’s meeting room back in January 2024. Not all of the Hoosiers’ playmakers were there, but the foundation was laid for all the success IU has had under its record-setting head coach.

Cignetti is a Big Ten champion, Rose Bowl champion, Peach Bowl champion, a two-time College Football Playoff participant and possesses a 26-2 record since his IU tenure began.

But none of that matters now. All that is on Cignetti and Indiana’s mind is Monday’s national championship game against Miami. When the Hoosiers take the field at Hard Rock Stadium, they’ll have an opportunity to do something that words can’t even describe.

A national championship at IU was thought to be impossible, but Cignetti has brought one within reach, using the same values that he preached in his first-ever team meeting in Bloomington.

It’s a distant memory now, but when the Hoosiers walked out of their team room two years ago, a plan was put in motion that would lead them to this very moment.

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