Is Curt Cignetti the Best Head Coach in College Football?

What Cignetti has done at Indiana is like nothing any of us have ever seen in the sport

Oct 11, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti watches game play against the Oregon Ducks during the fourth quarter at Autzen Stadium. | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Earlier this year, I ridiculed colleague Pete Fiutak as he declared Curt Cignetti was the nation's fourth-best college football coach.

Halfway through the 2025 college football season I am man enough to admit I owe Pete an apology. Forget Cignetti being the fourth-best head coach in the sport, he might just be the best of any.

Cignetti led Indiana to what is perhaps its biggest win in program history Saturday, earning a 30-20 victory at No. 3 Oregon, in a game that very few gave the Hoosiers a chance to win. Cignetti and Indiana now head back to Bloomington with even more pep in their step as they're a real threat to win a national championship this season.

Indiana's Turnaround is Unlike Anything We've Seen

Dec 1, 2023; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers new head football coach Curt Cignetti is introduced in the first half against the Maryland Terrapins at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

We've all seen and heard what has been said about Indiana football over the years. Sure, there would be seasons that were fun and memorable moments but nothing since Bill Mallory's hey-day has been sustainable, and even that came with a limited ceiling.

Curt Cignetti was named as Indiana's head football coach on December 3, 2023. What has happened since then for Indiana football would be laughed off a Hollywood script because it'd sound too cheesy and too impossible.

Cignetti has coached all of 19 games at Indiana, with the Hoosiers winning 17 of those. His expectation entering last year was to challenge to win nine or 10 games because of the favorable schedule, and now it certainly looks as if he and the Hoosiers will win 12 this regular season.

Not bad for a football program that had never won double-digit games in a single season before last year, and is about to do it twice in as many tries under Cignetti.

What Cignetti Has That Most Other Great Coaches Don't

Anyone can come back and cite Kirby Smart's national championships at Georgia, or what Ryan Day has done at Ohio State. This isn't to take anything away from those two, or others who are clearly special like Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame, Dan Lanning at Oregon, or plenty of others.

All of those coaches stepped into historically successful programs and elevated them to national championship-contending heights. There is skill in that and again, I'm not taking anything away from any of them.

Nobody in the nation has done what Cignetti has done at Indiana. The Hoosiers job has long been viewed as among the worst coaching jobs in Power Four/Five football, and he's killed that narrative. He's taken Hoosiers fans from counting down the days until basketball season, to living and dying with every Saturday in the fall.

Curt Cignetti has made Indiana a true national championship contender. I almost want to rub my eyes to make sure I'm not dreaming when I'm typing that, but it's certainly true.

Cignetti has not only done it, but done it with what has felt like the ease of a video game, turning Indiana into one of the nation's top college football programs in less than 20 games at the helm.

Others may have national championships to their names, but nobody else can claim a historic turnaround like Cignetti has done at Indiana, as he shows the sky truly is the limit for football in Bloomington.