Indiana football 2026 prediction: Can Curt Cignetti deliver more magic?

Five days. That’s how long Curt Cignetti allowed Indiana’s returning players to bask in the program’s fairy-tale perfect season. Five days to celebrate.Five days to savor becoming the first team in the modern era of college football to go 16-0. Then, it was back to work. “Coach was probably ready for next year by Wednesday or Thursday [after the national championship game], but he gave us a little bit of extra time,” starting linebacker Isaiah Jones recalled in a phone interview with The Post.

“We had a week or five days and he was whipping us into shape.” During the celebration at Memorial Stadium, five days after the Hoosiers’ national championship victory over Miami, he told the roaring crowd: “Chapter 3 begins tomorrow.” It was eerily reminiscent of Nick Saban, the legendary seven-time national championship-winning coach who was always looking ahead to the following season.He famously operated under a 24-hour rule.

Once, Saban called a staff meeting the morning after winning it all and told everyone they were behind.The rest of the country had been recruiting during Alabama’s playoff run. It should come as no surprise that Saban is one of Cignetti’s coaching mentors, having spent four seasons under him as an assistant at Alabama from 2007-10.

He has that same relentless, intense and competitive drive. During the first team meeting, Jones shared, Cignetti told the Hoosiers the previous year was special, but had no impact on them.This was a new group. “Last year’s team can’t win you any games this year,” he advised them.

“Anything you did last year means nothing.” During Big Ten media days, Cignetti said he was “stalking complacency.” When Michigan State transfer receiver Nick Marsh showed up the first day of spring practice wearing gold shoes, Cignetti ripped him for the fancy footwear. “If I was going to say he changed in any way, he’s getting on us even more.He’s gotten even more meticulous,” said ...