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Curt Cignetti is proving that great coaching still is what matters most

Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:56 am
Posted by harmonics
Mars Hotel
Member since Jan 2010
19126 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:56 am
You can NIL and transfer portal till the cows come home, Indiana wins because they're players get the hell coached out of them. They ran the ball 50 times. I was so damn jealous.
Posted by YStar
Member since Mar 2013
19781 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:00 am to
Uh Cignetti literally built this team using Indiana's NIL to pay for veteran transfers to come through the transfer portal.

He has a very old veteran team of guys who have played for 4, 5 and more years.

Experience does matter and it beats talent every time.
Posted by CrimsonBoz
Member since Sep 2014
20313 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:05 am to
That’s right.

Guys who transferred in wanted to play, they were experienced, and coachable. They didn’t cost a ton of money either.

Cig just got it right. You don’t have to get the most talented guys. Get semi talented experienced players and coach the shite out of them.
Posted by harmonics
Mars Hotel
Member since Jan 2010
19126 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:07 am to
Didn't a lot of his players come from JMU though?
Posted by CrimsonBoz
Member since Sep 2014
20313 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:09 am to
I believe some of them did. I mean look who our standouts are right now, all Washington kids.
Posted by InkStainedWretch
Member since Dec 2018
5031 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:10 am to
And I will repeat something I posted before the game. Cignetti’s practices are only 90 minutes long. He believes in getting on the field, getting your business done, and getting off the field.

Here’s the catch though. Literally every minute … every second … of that hour and a half is accounted for, and they go through those 90 minutes at full speed.
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
70025 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:10 am to
quote:

Didn't a lot of his players come from JMU though?



Yep. The core of his team is from his time at JMU. These guys have been in his system (both at JMU and at Indiana) for the last 3-4 years. They play well as a team and are about was well-coached as you can possibly be.
Posted by Diego Ricardo
Alabama
Member since Dec 2020
11790 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:12 am to
I mean, that is very Saban-esque besides the shorter overall practice. I think practicing full contact less often in-season makes sense because nobody has depth anymore much less schools like Indiana.

However, to practice that little requires experience. How is he developing players? What does a Cig Program look like in half a decade?
Posted by harmonics
Mars Hotel
Member since Jan 2010
19126 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:14 am to
quote:

. The core of his team is from his time at JMU. These guys have been in his system (both at JMU and at Indiana) for the last 3-4 years.


That's what I was thinking, which brings me back to my original point.
Posted by phil4bama
Emerald Coast of PCB
Member since Jul 2011
11823 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:19 am to
I think his success might be his downfall. If/when he starts getting more 4 and 5 star players, the us vs the world, nobody wanted you identity of this current team won’t work anymore. He will have to change his schtick to account for the better talent level or it will fall flat. It will be interesting to see if he can conform to a better level of player or if he can continue to find under appreciated diamonds in the rough in the portal and recruiting.
Posted by Diego Ricardo
Alabama
Member since Dec 2020
11790 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:23 am to
quote:

I think his success might be his downfall. If/when he starts getting more 4 and 5 star players, the us vs the world, nobody wanted you identity of this current team won’t work anymore. He will have to change his schtick to account for the better talent level or it will fall flat. It will be interesting to see if he can conform to a better level of player or if he can continue to find under appreciated diamonds in the rough in the portal and recruiting.



The motivating tactics are easy to change. The question I have by all the investigations into what he's done is:

Is a Cig Program predicated on perpetual high portal hit rate or can it develop players from raw HS talent into high level college talent?

The whole "we don't practice much" seems like a strategy that only works when you got guys on your roster that some other staff did all the hard work teaching them technique, etc.
Posted by harmonics
Mars Hotel
Member since Jan 2010
19126 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 10:35 am to
quote:


The whole "we don't practice much" seems like a strategy that only works when you got guys on your roster that some other staff did all the hard work teaching them technique, etc.


Understandable, but as me and RT87 alluded to, a lot of those guys were players he coached at JMU before they came to Indiana. I'm pretty sure Cignetti isn't so naive to think he can pull that off with a mostly fresh inexperienced roster.
Posted by InkStainedWretch
Member since Dec 2018
5031 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 11:19 am to
Good point Diego.
Posted by NWLA_Bama
Member since Aug 2024
1512 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 11:25 am to
quote:

Uh Cignetti literally built this team using Indiana's NIL to pay for veteran transfers to come through the transfer portal.

He has a very old veteran team of guys who have played for 4, 5 and more years.

Experience does matter and it beats talent every time.


And he can keep bringing veteran players every year as long as the NIL is right. He doesn't have to bring in young players. He has a formula and it is working.
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