Curt Cignetti could either be a turncoat, or he could keep authoring this epic turnaround at Indiana.
Penn State is a good job, but NIL and transfer free agency changed game. Indiana can win big now, too.
Call Curt Cignetti? Sure, go ahead. Why not call Urban Meyer, too?
If you’ve got Curt Cignetti penciled in as Penn State’s next coach, I’m afraid I see one teeny, tiny problem.
Cignetti’s going to be otherwise occupied this winter, what with chasing a national championship at Indiana.
If you’re thinking Cignetti could one day build a national title contender at Penn State, I’d invite you to check out the Hoosiers. Cignetti’s current team can win a national championship. If you don’t believe that, you didn’t watch Indiana chew up Oregon.
So, Penn State, good luck trying to find the next Cignetti, because the O.G. would be a fool to leave Indiana and miss out on winning a national championship with the Hoosiers.
Cignetti’s a lot of things. Cocky. Savvy. Strategic. A virtuoso. One thing he’s not: a fool.
Penn State job is good. Winning national title at Indiana would be better
Don’t get me wrong, Penn State’s a good job, with resources and a good recruiting base, but the year isn’t 1986, and national championship pursuits are not reserved to bluebloods. This is the time of the nouveau riche. A basketball school with a sharp coach and an NIL bankroll can pursue glory. Cignetti can chase a ring at Indiana, without the pressures of Penn State. Pretty ideal, eh?
A program’s historical prestige, or lack thereof, has never meant less than it does now. Out in West Texas, a program with a roster funded by a billionaire is vying for a first-round playoff bye.
NIL changed the game, and that includes the coaching carousel. Even a decade ago, if an Indiana coach thought he had a chance to springboard to Penn State, he’d have been on the next plane out of town. Heck, he’d have walked to State College. Now, that’s not necessary, not when Bobby Knight’s basketball school can become a national championship frontrunner — in football.
The season’s longer than ever, too. That complicates trying to plunder a playoff-qualifying coach. Indiana could take an undefeated record into the Big Ten championship game or beyond. Its season could go as late as Jan. 19, the date of the national championship. By then, the transfer free agent market will be operating at full speed.
Would Penn State be willing to hold up its hire to wait on Cignetti? Would Cignetti be up for changing jobs that late in the calendar?
It’s worth finding out. Go ahead and make the phone call, Penn State, but once you learn Cignetti’s not leaving an undefeated squad, move along.
Is Urban Meyer answering his phone?
Heck, while you’re at it, call Urban Meyer. See if he wants to try to stick it to Ohio State. Might be a better chance of Urb dusting off his play sheet than Cignetti walking away from the nation’s No. 3-ranked team.
While the phone is handy, maybe fire off a text to Lane Kiffin and see if he’s up for reprising his renegade past.
Plundering a sitting Power Four coach isn’t a perquisite to success, though.
Look around the Big Ten. None of the guys leading the top three teams — Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon — had been a Power Four coach before their current roles.
Quick, name for me the coach who replaced Cignetti at James Madison, who’s also a Pennsylvania native, and who, like Cignetti, won consistently at the Division II and Championship Subdivision levels before continuing Cigs’ success at James Madison.
That’d be Bob Chesney.
Or, has anyone in Pennsylvania noticed what Alex Golesh is achieving at South Florida? Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying Penn State will settle on a Group of Five coach. I expect the Nittany Lions will chase bigger names. Also not saying Chesney or Golesh would be a home-run hire. I didn’t know Cignetti would be a grand slam for Indiana, either.
For every Cignetti, there’s many, many more Billy Napiers who fizzle after their call-up to the big-time. Plenty of Luke Fickells, too, who flop despite seeming like a natural choice.
If only it were easy to unearth the next Cignetti, everyone would do it.
Strange things sometimes happen when the coaching carousel twirls into hyperdrive, so, sure, check and see if Cignetti would leave his epic turnaround at Indiana to become a turncoat. Make him say no. Once he does, Cignetti can get back to work on that statue (not to mention a raise) that’ll be owed to him at Indiana if he stays.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.