There’s no time to relax — Curt Cignetti and Indiana football hit the ground running as transfer portal window opens up

It has been barely 72 hours since Curt Cignetti was introduced as the head coach for the Indiana football program and as he knows, there’s no time to relax. In fact, the next week will be the foundation that Indiana heads into the 2024 season with.

The transfer portal opened on Monday — officially — and with 20 players already in the portal from Indiana, not only evaluating their potential to come back, but also attacking the portal for new additions will be on the forefront of Cignetti’s and Indiana’s mind.

With an increased NIL pool and a ‘no limitations’ mindset, Cignetti is ready to attack it head on.

“You have to engage in the portal because everybody’s turning over at least 30 percent of their roster right now. If you don’t, you’ve got no chance,” Cignetti said on Friday at his introductory press conference. “But you build it with high school guys. There’s a lot of good players out there, a lot of guys that can be successful. Remember it’s recruiting and development. You’ve got to develop them now.”

While Cignetti has clearly had success in evaluating talent and making splashes in the transfer portal, this spring and summer will be different. While Indiana has increased its NIL pool, thanks to a massive campaign surrounding the hiring of Cignetti, Indiana still has an uphill climb when it comes to the rest of the Big Ten.

Cignetti knows that, but is coming with the same plan that has made him so successful on every sidelines he stood.

“There’s going to be people in this conference that probably have more resources than we do, but that’s not detrimental,” Cignetti said. “You’ve got to take the right kind of guys. You’ve got to develop them and form the intangibles on your football team. That’s what we plan on doing. There are a lot of good players out there.”

Taking the right kids and developing them has been a massive part of Cignetti’s resume. He had four conference Player of the Years on offense and three on defense throughout his JMU tenure. Most were transfers.

He has also secured some of the top commits in the history of the Dukes’ program.

How? It’s simple. Evaluation and production.

“I’ve never really looked at stars ever, honestly. It’s kind of like I get so focused in on certain things, like in this particular case, evaluation,” Cignetti said. “I guess these stars have been around for a long time. I have never, ever looked at a star. I mean, do you really think that some guy that puts stars on kids knows what he’s talking about? Compared to coaches who are watching hours and hours of tape on kids. No. If you want to get ratings and you want to go recruit the guys with the most stars, because there’s always going to be somebody who shouldn’t have four stars that’s going to be available, you go ahead and do that. That’s not how we operate.

“I’m more into production than potential. I’m a little old fashioned.”

Cignetti has been successful at turning programs around quickly, sustaining that success and then building on it.

That’s exactly what he’ll need to do with the Indiana football program with the new era of the Big Ten and college football.

The track record is there. It’s evident.

But, can the same plan and style at which Cignetti used and won at James Madison and before also work at the power five level? Time will tell, but it won’t take long to find out.

“Wherever they are, we’ll find them,” Cignetti said. “If we think they’re a good fit and a good match, then we’ll get them on campus.”

SEE ALSO: ‘There will be no self-imposed limitations’: Curt Cignetti avoiding complacency and already changing the expectation around Indiana football