After a historic season for the IU football program, the question remained; is it repeatable and sustainable? Well, time will tell but step one is checked off as nearly everyone on the coaching staff is returning to Bloomington next year.
Curt Cignetti made it a known that he wanted to keep the group of assistant coaches in tact and the university responded in a massive way. As part of Cignetti’s new deal with Indiana, he also wanted additional resources put to the program that would directly impact his coaching staff — basically a pool of money and bonuses that could go to retaining his assistants through his tenure in Bloomington.
After an 11-1 season and numerous assistant coaches being names that floated around the country as potential names to watch as job openings became available — the expectation was that Indiana would ultimately lose some of its staff. Instead, it was the opposite.
Indiana is reportedly set to retain all but one assistant coach — all signed to new deals and considered a ‘major statement’ by Cignetti.
“I think, first of all, the president, Pam Whitten, and Scott Dolson, their commitment to being successful, providing the resources and funding to be successful at the P4 level in the Big Ten Conference,” Cignetti said on Sunday. “I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am. I think it’s a statement, major statement.”
The one assistant that will be leaving is Tino Sunseri — the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. That’s no easy feat to overcome, but the damage is very much limited to that. And, the ability to retain both offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines will go a long way in maintaining the culture next year after the majority of the James Madison players are gone.
“The philosophy has always been, when you lose a coach, hire a better one,” Cignetti stressed. “We had a lot of players here at quarterback before we hired Tino. While he’s done a great job, we won’t miss a step, and he’ll do a great job preparing the quarterbacks during the playoffs.”
The new deals for the other assistants and support staff? Two year deals for nine assistants, and strength and conditioning coach Derek Owings.
“In a sport where you really need to be successful at this level, for a lot of different reasons,” Cignetti said. “Once they came to me and we redid my contract — and I love it here, like it here a lot, love Bloomington. Then the next order of business was locking in the staff because, when you win like we do, guys have opportunities. That took about 10 to 14 days. Because all these guys have agents anymore, but I was really happy that we were able to get done what we got done.”
So as IU football prepares for its appearance in the College Football Playoff, fans can rest easy knowing that IU’s ‘statement’ off the field will only continue to pay dividends on the field — next year and beyond.
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