‘We got to change the way people think about Indiana’: Curt Cignetti is looking to change the narrative surrounding Indiana Football

“We got to change the way people think about Indiana,” new Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti said during his National Signing Day press conference. “We’ve been adamant that, look, we’re going to win and we’re going to win this year and we’re going to change the brand and the expectation level and the way people see Indiana football.”

Cignetti is not the first coach to come to Bloomington with the mindset of changing the narrative surrounding a program that has been dormant for much of its history. Cignetti has been successful everywhere he has been, but turning Indiana football into a competitive program is no easy feat and he recognizes that it will be a process.

“There’s no reason we can’t be successful here. We’re going to be successful here,” Cignetti said. “It’s one day at a time. It’s a process right now. It’s always a process.”

Cignetti got off to a good start this offseason when he added a ton of talent in the transfer portal including the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke and Elijah Sarratt who finished with 1,191 receiving yards and eight touchdowns a season ago.

“I walked in kind of a crisis roster situation. We had 10 offensive starters in the portal, a number of defensive guys, 25 guys total,” Cignetti said about the transfer portal. “We were rebuilding and making the roster. I hate to ever say I was pleased because you can never be pleased and satisfied, but I thought we got a lot of good work done in December and changed the roster, which I’m very optimistic about, what we got done in the transfer portal.”

Cignetti and his staff did a ton of work this offseason to prepare for the season and were able to retain some key players from last year’s roster like wide receiver Donaven McCulley and offensive lineman Carter Smith.

After a productive winter, Cignetti and his staff’s attention now turns to spring practices.

“There’s no scoreboard, so everybody has a great spring. You want to develop players, get your offense, defense, special teams systems in, see improvement on a daily basis, keep guys healthy, don’t get anybody injured,” Cignetti said. “Usually in spring, the second half of spring looks a lot better than the first half of spring. There’s going to be a lot of new nomenclature, new people, a different practice structure than the guys that have been here in the past are accustomed to.”

With it being Cignetti’s first chance to work with his team, he will be looking to establish the culture that he has been preaching all offseason.

“I think all the coaches are really excited to get going, but we still have a month of offensive and defensive staff meetings coming up to get everybody on the same page,” Cignetti said. “… We still have some things to get done there. But looking forward to getting out on the field.”

Indiana offensive line coach Bob Bostad who is one of the few to remain with Indiana football from last year’s staff is someone Cignetti has expressed his excitement to work with.

For Cignetti his goal is getting the entire staff on the same page before the start of practices.

One member of the staff who he brought with him from James Madison is new strength and conditioning coach Derek Owings who has been one of the few to be working with the team over the Winter as they prepared for spring practices.

“We haven’t been around the kids a lot. Derek has been around the kids all the time,” Cignetti said about Owings. “The brief moments I’ve been back in the office, I try to get down to the weight room, see the guys, see how they’re doing, things like that. We’ll get an opportunity to spend more time with them now.”

While he recognizes it will be a long process, Cignetti will finally be able to begin to lay the foundation as he works to build the Indiana football program.

When Indiana football welcomes recruits Cignetti makes sure they know this is a new era in the program.

“Usually I start out by saying, Look, anything you know about Indiana football, any perception you have, you need to erase the tape because here’s what it’s going to look like,” Cignetti said. “But we’ve got to do it on the field. When you’re successful on the field, then you start to change the way the public, the state, the Big Ten, and the country think about Indiana football. You start putting more people in the stands, selling out games, then it’s hard to get tickets. That’s what we’re going to do.”

SEE ALSO: ‘We have to get rid of this softness in order to stalk complacency’: Curt Cignetti details offseason plan for Indiana football

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