Tag: Curt Cignetti

Former Wisconsin offensive linemen, top assistant named semifinalist for national award

Former Wisconsin linemen, top assistant named finalist for national award

Several former Wisconsin Badgers have helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers to a record 10-0 start to the 2024 season.

Those are tackle Trey Wedig, guard Drew Evans and offensive line coach Bob Bostad. The trio is a significant reason the Hoosiers’ line was named a semifinalist for the 2024 Joe Moore Award on Tuesday.

Related: Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is doing what everybody expected Luke Fickell to do at Wisconsin

The award, with history since 2015, is given annually to college football’s best offensive line. Notable recent winners include Washington (2023), Michigan (2021-22), Alabama (2020) and LSU (2019).

The Hoosiers were named a semifinalist for the 2024 award along with Alabama, Army, Iowa, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Tulane.

As mentioned, three former Badgers are a big reason for the nomination.

Wedig has started all 10 games at right tackle for the Hoosiers this season. He boasts one of the top PFF grades of any eligible tackle in the Big Ten, making him one of Curt Cignetti’s top transfer additions from a highly successful offseason.

The versatile lineman entered the portal after playing a reserve role on the 2023 Badgers in year one under Luke Fickell. He would’ve been up for limited snaps again in 2024 with both Jack Nelson and Riley Mahlman back for a final season.

Evans, meanwhile, transferred to Indiana back in 2023 after initially walking on with the Badgers ahead of the 2022 season. He started the first nine games of the 2024 season for the Hoosiers before suffering a season-ending injury last week in practice.

Bostad, finally, is the most notable former Badger of the group. The current Indiana offensive line coach was a top assistant under Bret Bielema in the mid-2000s before returning to the Wisconsin program in 2017 as its inside linebackers coach.

He transitioned back to offensive line duties in 2022 as Paul Chryst reworked his offensive coaching staff. The veteran assistant then took a job at Indiana after Chryst’s firing.

Indiana will look to continue its dream season on Nov. 23 when it faces the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The team is a win away from possibly reaching the Big Ten title game, a remarkable turnaround after a 3-9 final season under Tom Allen.

A big factor in that success has been the work of Wedig, Evans and Bostad along the offensive line.

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Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is doing what everybody expected Luke Fickell to do at Wisconsin

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is doing what everybody expected Luke Fickell to do at Wisconsin

Indiana continued its dream season with a 20-15 win over the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.

The Hoosiers improved to 10-0 (7-0 Big Ten). The program’s instant turnaround in Year 1 under coach Curt Cignetti is the biggest story in college football.

Related: Big Ten Power Rankings after Week 11: Indiana remains undefeated

The why behind Indiana’s turnaround is pretty clear. Cignetti and his staff have done a phenomenal job, highlighted by reshaping the roster in the transfer portal over the offseason. That included many of Cignetti’s former players at James Madison, plus former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

Cignetti reloaded the roster, assembled a strong coaching staff and is winning instantly. He is doing so at a program that went 3-9 in 2023 and hasn’t won more than eight games in any season since 1967.

Many point to the schedule. The Hoosiers have not faced Penn State, Oregon or Ohio State, and they will face only Ohio State this season (Nov. 23). But Saturday’s 20-15 win over Michigan was the team’s first game that wasn’t decided by two or more possessions. Light schedule or not, this season’s performance has been nothing short of amazing.

That brings up a comparison to Wisconsin under coach Luke Fickell. The Badgers are 5-4 (3-3 Big Ten) entering the final stretch of the season. They finished the 2023 season at 7-6.

The conversation surrounding Fickell’s hire involved the word championships, both from Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh and from Fickell himself. The on-field results have clearly fallen far short of that self-imposed expectation.

In reality, Cignetti is doing what many expected Fickell to do upon arriving in Madison. He jumped from a successful Group of Five program, brought in a loaded transfer class, changed the culture and is winning instantly. Coincidentally, a significant piece of that success is longtime Badgers assistant Bob Bostad.

Wisconsin had a schedule similar to Indiana’s in 2023, if not easier. The difference in performance is striking. Wisconsin needed to work through substantial growing pains on both sides of the football while Indiana is a College Football Playoff contender.

This comparison will not do much to dictate Wisconsin’s future under Fickell or where Indiana goes under Cignetti. It’s worth pointing out, however, when it’s argued that more time is needed before success can follow.

That idea of more time is no longer a luxury in today’s era of college football. Most top coaches have zero trouble winning instantly at new programs. Cignetti, an ascending top coach in the sport, needed six months to turn a 3-9 team and bottom-tier program into a potential playoff participant.

2025, now, will be a critical season for Fickell and the Badgers to respond.

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Curt Cignetti only needed 2 words to explain Indiana’s first 10-0 start in program history

Not bad, Curt Cignetti. Not bad.

Indiana football is 10-0 for the first time in team history after its 20-15 home victory over Michigan on Saturday.

Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti has done a tremendous job turning around Indiana’s football program in his first year at the helm, but he’s not getting over his skis about the success.

When asked about this remarkable first for Indiana after the win, Cignetti only had one thing to say. “Not bad.”

If you want to know how much a coach has confidence in his team and his eyes on the right prize, a national title, this is the kind of answer you want to hear.

It doesn’t appear that Indiana is resting on its laurels this season, even after such an exciting achievement as starting 10-0.

With a trip to Ohio State on the schedule for Nov. 23 after a week off, this is the right approach for Cignetti and Indiana.

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Curt Cignetti sent a message to Indiana’s doubters after hanging 56 on Nebraska and remaining undefeated

The Indiana offense demolished Nebraska’s highly touted defense

No. 16 Indiana absolutely routed an up-and-coming Nebraska team at home on Saturday, 56-7, to remain undefeated and Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti wasn’t ready to stop handing out Ls after the final whistle.

The first-year Indiana coach came into his postgame press conference ready to remind everyone how hyped Nebraska’s defense was coming into Week 8 and it’s hard to blame him.

“I know there was a national perception Nebraska had a pretty legit defense on a national scale,” Cignetti said per IndyStar‘s Zach Osterman. “So maybe this will open their eyes.”

That comment may feel like overkill, but in the 12-team College Football Playoff era, style points matter. Each team has to not only win, but prove on every single play it is one of the best dozen teams in the country just to have an opportunity to play for a national title.

Which is why it matters that Indiana put up 495 yards of offense (280 yards passing, 215 yards rushing) as much as it does that everyone remembers how much respect Nebraska’s defense had before Saturday.

Even more impressive is the fact Indiana scored 28 points in the second half without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who injured his hand and was held out as a precaution.

The Hoosiers are sure to move up in the polls this week, but Week 9 is when their schedule really takes a turn. Up next they host Washington, then face Michigan State and Michigan in consecutive weeks. It only gets tougher after that as Indiana travels to Ohio State then gets Purdue in the regular season finale.

It’s not enough for Indiana to pass each test. It needs to turn each win into a statement.

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Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti’s UCLA comments go viral at Big Ten media days

Curt Cignetti’s honest take on going to UCLA.

There was some instant bulletin board material for the UCLA Bruins last week at the Big Ten media day. Head coach at Indiana Curt Cignetti had some interesting words about his first Big Ten matchup against the UCLA Bruins.

The 63-year-old may not be the best to be trash-talking other conference schools, as he has yet to coach a game at Indiana. The former James Madison head coach is coming off a 12-2 season a year ago, before getting hired in November of 2023 by Indiana.

Cignetti was asked what it would be like for his Hoosiers to start their Big Ten season in Pasadena. This is what the head coach had to say, per Zion Brown of The Indianapolis Star.

” “We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s (butt),” Cignetti said. “When I say that, that’s not directed toward UCLA. That’s the objective every week. Look, I know that 1967, we were there and we haven’t been there since and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We’re not going out on a cruise or for a tour. We’re going out to play a football game. We got a job to do.”

Before the game against UCLA on September 14th, the Hoosiers have two home games. Indiana should be favored to win both games as they host Florida International on August 31st and Western Illinois on September 6th.

The Hoosiers went 3-9 last season, and 1-8 in Big Ten play. It was the final season for head coach Tom Allen, who was there for 7 seasons.

Big Ten head coach unintentionally throws shade at UCLA

Indiana’s head coach didn’t mean to roast UCLA, but people still laughed.

Curt Cignetti is the new head football coach at Indiana, taking over from Tom Allen this season. Cignetti was one of the stars at Big Ten media days. His remarks to assembled media in Indianapolis were more colorful, humorous, and generally interesting than most of the other speeches delivered by the 18 coaches in the new-look conference. Indiana is one of the little guys in the Big Ten, predicted to finish near the bottom, alongside UCLA. Cignetti was feisty and lively at the podium, noting that at his previous coaching stops in smaller college conferences, his teams were usually favored to win the league title. Now it’s all different.

One of the things Cignetti was asked about at Big Ten media days was cross-country travel to places such as the Rose Bowl for the UCLA game. Cignetti’s response: “We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s ass.” Reporters clarified that the statement wasn’t meant to be UCLA-specific, but that point of clarification did nothing to reduce the force of the comment.

Given DeShaun Foster’s viral moment at Big Ten media days, UCLA did not have a good week in Indianapolis, that’s for sure.

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A 5-star quarterback just named an official visit to…Indiana?

Julian Lewis is set for an official visit to Indiana.

When a five-star athlete visits Indiana, the presumption is that it is a basketball player. But instead, five-star quarterback Julian Lewis is set to take a late May official visit to Indiana.

And just to be clear, it is for football. Lewis, from Carrollton High School (Carrollton, Georgia) is the No. 1 ranked recruit in the ESPN 300.

He holds offers from Alabama, Georgia and Miami among others.

The official visit to Indiana, first reported by 247Sports, is a seismic moment for the Hoosiers program. Indiana is making waves in recruiting under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, even landing coveted defensive tackle C.J. West in the transfer portal this week.

Cignetti, armed with a strong resume from his time at JMU and strong Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) support from Indiana’s collectives, has maximized the Big Ten program during this recruiting cycle. Getting Lewis in for an official visit is certainly a significant note in this recruiting cycle.

 

Lewis is currently committed to USC.

All kidding aside about Indiana recruiting a five-star and the shock over it not being a basketball player, this is a really big piece of momentum for the football program. Getting a player of this caliber onto campus is a testament to the program’s growth under Cignetti in just a few short months.

The Hoosiers currently have the No. 32 recruiting class in the nation.

Former Wisconsin starting offensive lineman commits to Indiana

Former starting Wisconsin offensive lineman commits to Indiana

Versatile Wisconsin offensive lineman Trey Wedig entered the transfer portal a few weeks ago. After a brief stay, the now-former Badger has committed to Indiana.

Wedig will be reunited with former Wisconsin OL coach Bob Bostad at IU as the program undergoes a facelift under new head coach Curt Cignetti.

The former Badger played four seasons in Madison. He started eight games for the Badgers in 2022, five coming at right tackle, two at right guard and one at left guard. He then appeared in 10 games this season, logging more than 250 snaps as the team’s versatile sixth offensive lineman.

With consistent playing time in question entering 2024, Wedig is off to an opportunity at Indiana that should see him start immediately.

2023-2024 College Football Coaching Carousel

Texas A&M hires Duke’s Mike Elko as the coaching carousel continues to spin.

The end of the college football season is here and the coaching carousel is once again getting fired up. This season saw two early head coaching changes within the Big Ten to get an early jump on things, but more coaching changes are popping up as we close in on the end of another regular season around the nation.

We’ll keep track of all of the head coaching changes in our updated coaching carousel tracker to see what head coaches are out and who is replacing them. This will be updated daily as needed with the latest head coaching changes as jobs open up and are filled. As is so often the case in college football, one coaching vacancy being filled will lead to another opening popping up as a result.

As of Thursday, Dec. 8 there are 2 head coaching vacancies in college football, including 1 power conference job to fill. A total of 19 head coaching changes have been made this year.

Below is the updated chart for this year’s edition of the head coaching carousel in college football. After that is a bit more detail on each job opening, listed in alphabetical order.

Report: Former Wisconsin coach set to be retained under new staff at Indiana

Report: Former Wisconsin coach set to be retained under new staff at Indiana

The Indiana Hoosiers made a few splashes in the last few weeks, firing longtime head coach Tom Allen after a disastrous 3-9 season. It then hired one of the hotter coaching names on the market: former James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti.

Cignetti had the Dukes at 11-1 this season after an 8-3 2022 campaign. He is no Jonathan Smith (former Oregon State coach, now at Michigan State), but the college football world agrees he did a terrific job at James Madison.

One piece of Cignetti taking over at Indiana is how he’ll handle the staff around him. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reported there is one assistant coach set to be retained: former Wisconsin offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

Bostad was in Madison from 2006-2011 as tight ends coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach. He then was the program’s inside linebackers coach from 2017-2021, before Paul Chryst moved him to coach the offensive line entering the 2022 season. Once Chryst was fired, Bostad took a job under Allen at Indiana.

Bostad is experienced along the offensive line, knows how to recruit the midwest and has a good track record as an assistant coach. Cignetti’s move to retain him with the new staff should prove to be a smart one.