Indiana Football Coach Curt Cignetti Unhappy With Thursday Practice Effort

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - During spring practice, Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti speaks with the media once per week.

Up until Thursday, Cignetti's assessments of practice had been largely positive, but on Thursday, Cignetti came off the field frustrated with the way the players approached the day.

He said so, unprompted, to start his Thursday morning press conference at Memorial Stadium.

"It's a race to improve as much as you can, and up to today, I think you know, the effort and the improvement is on track," Cignetti said.

"I think today, we squandered an opportunity to improve as much as possible, and we were inconsistent in too many areas. Probably not mentally prepared to come out and do what it takes to have a successful practice. And improve as much as possible," Cignetti continued.

Cignetti elaborated further on what bothered him about the way the Hoosiers went about their business.

"It was too much inconsistency across the board at all positions. Whether it's a lack of detail, focus, preparation, which leads to a breakdown in execution," Cignett said.

What also concerned Cignetti was that the coaching he wants his staff to deliver wasn't being heeded by the Hoosiers.

"Good players want to be coached. Great players. You can't coach them enough. You can't give them enough. They want more. Inconsistent players want coached on their terms. And today, we had too many inconsistent players that didn't come out prepared, ready to improve and live up to the standard that we've set for each individual and the team and offense, defense, special teams," Cignetti said.

"We just didn't have enough juice out there. There were too many coaches yelling to get going," Cignetti continued. "Up to today, I think the practices, they're never perfect, but the effort and energy has been great."

Cignetti lated noted that he did not let the players leave the field without conveying how he felt about their approach to practice on Thursday. Cignetti observes practices from his own vantage point, usually by himself, as he makes the effort to try to see as much of the practice as possible, leaving the detail work to the coordinators.

"That message got sent on the field during practice. I didn't wait until after practice to send it. Sometimes it's a little X-rated message," Cignetti said.

Thursday was practice No. 10 for Indiana. The Hoosiers had their first scrimmage last Saturday and will have another this Saturday that will be closed to the public.

After that, there is one more practice before Indiana plays its spring game at 8 p.m. next Thursday at Memorial Stadium.

Cignetti isn't focused on the spring game or the season to come in the fall. He wants to drive the point home, in no uncertain terms to his players, that spring preparation is what leads to fall success.

"I'm sure I'll go in and look at the tape, it's never as good, never as bad (as you think), but that's where we are today. I'm really not worried about what it looks like four months from now. My focus is on, what were we today? What did we put on tape?" Cignetti said.

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