IU football head coach Curt Cignetti among candidates on Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Watch List

IU football head coach Curt Cignetti continues his stellar season during his first year in Bloomington and the early success was rewarded on Wednesday.

The Indiana head coach was among 27 coaches named to the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Watch List.

The award is handed out each year to the coach that ‘makes the sport better for athletes and fans’.

Cignetti has led the Hoosiers to a 6-0 record — the best start since 1967. Through seven weeks, Indiana is one of just two programs in the entire country who has yet to trail in a single game this year.

IU football faces Nebraska on Saturday for a chance to improve to 7-0. Indiana won just nine games combined in the past three seasons.

The Hoosiers are currently ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25 and have two sellout crowds in two of the next three home games (Nebraska, Michigan).

“We have an older team, I’m not really concerned about them reading about their accolades on social media and the paper because they’ve been around the block a little bit,” Cignetti said after the Northwestern win. “They’ll be reading a lot about how we aren’t good enough to do this and that. I want the chip on their shoulder to keep growing.”

Below is the full release.

HOUSTON — Twenty-seven college football coaches make up the American Heart Association’s 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list, a list of current coaches in consideration for the annual top honor. The award, given each January to a college football coach, recognizes contributions that make the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity and a winning approach to coaching and life – both on and off the field.

The American Heart Association, the leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives for all for more than 100 years, and the Bryant family present this award annually to celebrate Bear Bryant’s legacy and raise awareness and critical funds for scientific research to eliminate needless suffering and death from cardiovascular disease and stroke, the leading causes of death globally. The football coaching legend died from a heart attack in 1983.

Now in its 39th year, the Coach of the Year award winner will be announced live from Houston’s Post Oak Hotel on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, during an awards ceremony presented by Marathon Oil. The National Sports Media Association, the Bryant Awards’ Executive Leadership Team and the Bryant Family voted on the watch list, finalists and Coach of the Year recipient.

The 2024 Watch List includes (in alphabetical order):

Bret Bielema – University of Illinois
Matt Campbell – Iowa State University
Jamey Chadwell – Liberty University
Curt Cignetti – Indiana University
Mario Cristobal – University of Miami
Spencer Danielson – Boise State University
Ryan Day – Ohio State University
Kalen DeBoer – University of Alabama
Kenny Dillingham – Arizona State University
Mike Elko – Texas A&M University
James Franklin – Pennsylvania State University
Marcus Freeman – University of Notre Dame
Josh Heupel – University of Tennessee
Brian Kelly – Louisiana State University
Chris Klieman – Kansas State University
Dan Lanning – University of Oregon
Rhett Lashlee – Southern Methodist University
Clark Lea – Vanderbilt University
Joey McGuire – Texas Tech University
Jeff Monken – United States Military Academy (Army)
Pat Narduzzi – University of Pittsburgh
Brian Newberry – United States Naval Academy (Navy)
Steve Sarkisian – University of Texas
Kalani Sitake – Brigham Young University
Kirby Smart – University of Georgia
Dabo Swinney – Clemson University
Bryant Vincent – University of Louisiana Monroe

SEE ALSO: Curt Cignetti and IU football ‘want the chip on their shoulder to keep growing’ during the bye week

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