Blog: Can Cignetti transfer his winning magic to beleaguered IU?

He's been a head coach for 13 seasons. He's had a winning record in all of them. The resume is wildly impressive. Now IU has to spend the money to compete.

I’m excited about Curt Cignetti. I was also excited about Cam Cameron. And Sam Wyche (remember him?). Hell, I was excited about Bill Lynch.  All of them, new faces, new philosophies, all of them poised to make the losingest football program in Division I history competitive or even, dare we say it, good?

Those aforementioned guys were all homerun hires when they signed on the dotted line. Until they took their turn at bat. And whiffed. Because IU is a coaches’ graveyard.

Look, the Cignetti hiring is wildly important and on paper, it looks like a winning proposition. The resume is impressive, to say the least, from his time as an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Alabama to his program resurrections at Indiana (Pa.) and Elon, followed by his marvelous run with James Madison. He’s been a head coach for 13 years. He’s had a winning record in all 13.

But if IU wants to win on a semi-regular basis, it’s going to take cold, hard cash, and that’s an area where the Hoosiers have been lacking for way too many years. Athletic director Scott Dolson, who extended Tom Allen and gave him that monstrous contract buyout, needs to enrich the NIL coffers and the program in general.