'He Changed Programs and Players': How Indiana's Curt Cignetti Builds Habits, Life Success

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is college football's best constructor — on the field and off it. His teams win, his players flourish and his legacy grows. But his reputation remains the same as it was 15 years ago.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers celebrate Dec. 6, 2025, after beating Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MIAMI — Long before Curt Cignetti earned the title of one of college football’s premier coaches and program builders at Indiana, he held a different reputation — one as much about developing people as players.

In January of 2011, Mike Campolo, the offensive line coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, called his players into his office and delivered confirmation of the hiring that ultimately shaped many of their futures.

Redshirt freshman Byron Dovales had already heard rumors about Cignetti’s impending arrival but knew nothing of the man set to take over IUP's program. Campolo, meanwhile, knew plenty — he played and coached under Frank Cignetti, Curt’s dad.

There, in Campolo’s office, Dovales and his teammates learned the reality of life under Cignetti.

“A lot of things are going to change around here for the better,” Dovales remembers hearing from Campolo. “It'll be some of the hardest times in you guys' lives, but if you guys can stick around and tough it through, you'll grow as men and also win a lot of football games.”

On his first day as IUP’s head coach, Cignetti imposed his presence through words — and jewelry. He wore his national championship ring from Alabama while telling his players success isn’t easy. He also said he planned to push them hard, perhaps harder than they'd ever experienced.

Quite a few couldn’t handle it.

One of IUP’s better players quit after the first day of workouts because he realized he didn’t like football enough to meet the heights of Cignetti’s standard. This, at a Division II school that went 6–5 the year prior, is where the mythical lore of Cignetti’s high bar officially began.

And he doesn’t lower it for anyone, no matter how low — or high — on the depth chart.

During the summer before Cignetti’s first season as IUP’s head coach, junior running back Harvie Tuck IV, who rushed for over 1,100 yards the year before, failed his conditioning test. Cignetti didn’t let it slide. Instead, he made an example out of Tuck in front of the entire team.

“He pretty much called me out, just telling me it was unacceptable, it was BS,” Tuck told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “He cussed me out in front of the whole team. But it was just the fact he put me on notice, like, ‘Listen, man. We're going to hold you accountable and then we're going to show everybody you didn't hold yourself accountable.’

“And that was a mindset I feel he instilled in everyone, just by making examples out of the guys who were the guys there.”

Tuck earned first-team all-conference honors that season and averaged over 100 rushing yards per game. But the lesson Tuck learned that day, an hour northeast of Pittsburgh, carries more weight now than any on-field accomplishment he earned at IUP.

Cignetti taught Tuck — and the teammates who watched a vintage Cignetti tongue-lashing — the value of accountability. Tuck uses it each day as a husband and father of three kids, each of whom depend on him. And as an assistant coach at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, he preaches it to his players.

The 64-year-old Cignetti has coached numerous NFL players across four decades in the industry. But for every Julio Jones, there are hundreds of success stories like Tuck, who’s flourished in life because of the habits Cignetti instilled within him.

“That's the great thing about football, I think,” Cignetti said. “It's a great vehicle that helps people, used properly, become more successful in their life's work later on and raising a family. A lot of great lessons there about teamwork, leadership, overcoming adversity, meeting challenges, preparation, commitment, discipline, work ethic, toughness.”

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher (4) holds the Old Oaken Bucket trophy with coach Curt Cignetti on Nov. 29, 2025, at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette. Indiana defeated Purdue, 56-3. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

'Everything he talks about is true in football and in life'

A few days after the Cignetti-led Hoosiers stomped Oregon, 56–22, in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9, senior linebacker Aiden Fisher was on the phone with his mom. Fisher, who played two years under Cignetti at James Madison University and two more at Indiana, suddenly found himself reciting Cignetti.

It wasn’t intentional. It was a byproduct of four years around a person so consistent, so clear, in his messaging that his players — and, evidently, their parents — have no choice but to adopt it.

“I don't even remember what we were talking about. I was just like, ‘Yeah, I hope somebody doesn't get complacent,’” Fisher said Jan. 13. “And I was like, ‘Wow, I have been with Cig way too long.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I said the same thing the other day.’  She used the word ‘complacent.’”

Sometimes, Fisher’s mom sends him a text congratulating him and his teammates on good performances. Fisher responds with the next opponent’s name. He’s been, by and large, corrupted by Cignetti-isms.

“It's funny,” Fisher said. “When you've been with somebody for so long, you start talking like them a little bit. Everything he talks about is true in football and in life, complacency kills. Everything about the way he makes this football program makes you a better person, too.

“And I think my mom gets that when I'm texting her: No more talking about the last game, on to the next. It's funny how long I have been with him and the things that rub off on me.”

When Indiana takes the field for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at 7:30 p.m. Monday against Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., over two dozen Hoosiers will suit up for the final time in college. Several others could declare for the NFL Draft.

No matter, many football careers will end Monday night. The road to a successful life, meanwhile, will hit its first mile marker — and Cignetti’s players, thanks to his process and standard, feel better equipped to handle the twists and turns.

“A lot of coaches have their way of molding us into men outside of football, and I feel like they preach a message here that how you do anything is how you do everything,” fifth-year senior running back Roman Hemby said. “So, who are you going to be when nobody's looking?

“When you're in your everyday life, you want to put your best foot forward because you don't know who you can encounter. And just being your greatest self every day because it's a direct reflection of how you are on the field because of your process, how you treat yourself, how you do things and how you approach everything that you do.”

Hemby’s backfield mate, Kaelon Black, carries more experience with Cignetti than most. They’ve been together since 2020, enduring James Madison’s transition from the FCS to the FBS, adjusting to life in Bloomington and leading the Hoosiers to the sport’s biggest stage.

Black has followed Cignetti, in large part, because of his leadership style, one marked by a serious, business-focused flare, no matter if it’s football or life.

“He wants to see his guys improve,” Black said, “make those strides to become better players and better men at the end of the day.”

Black feels he’s proof of Cignetti’s influence. Cignetti preaches about being smart and disciplined, about staying on track no matter the task. And, of course, about stalking complacency and always wanting to get better in every single phase of life each day.

“Whether that's cooking, vacuuming, cleaning up the house, those certain things that you have that certain mindset from football that you learned from him,” Black said. “It just kind of translates to your everyday life.”

Indiana is in the minority in its practice approach. The Hoosiers rarely, if ever, spend more than two hours on the practice field. Most sessions last an hour and a half. Cignetti cares less about time and more about efficiency.

Subsequently, Indiana’s players aren’t required to be in the facility as frequently as other programs prefer. Redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said the additional time has forced him to reconsider his off-field habits and how he treats his body.

“He respects our time a lot, coaches and players, and he's never going to have us here just to have us here,” Jones said. “And that's made me think, ‘If he's going to give us this time off, then be a pro with your time.’ Take care of your body, eat the right things, stretch.

“Take care of your body because your body is what's got you here and what's going to keep you playing and keep you active.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and linebacker Isaiah Jones embrace Dec. 6, 2025, after beating Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

'That was our psychopath'

At 10 a.m. most Sundays after games, Dovales entered IUP’s football facility to review film from the previous day. If he passed Cignetti in the hallway, he’d get a quick rundown of all of his mistakes — not just the play, not just the mistake, but every specific detail woven together.

“He's giving me the answers already, like, ‘Hey, Byron, make sure you check out play nine and play 14. That's what I've been telling you on the backside zone,’” Dovales told Indiana Hoosiers on SI. “It's the smallest detail, from my foot placement to my hand placement to why I might have got a holding call.

“You're not getting away with anything with that guy.”

That, Dovales said, is what makes Cignetti a two-time National Coach of the Year recipient. It’s also what makes his players better men. Dovales learned more about planning and attention to detail from Cignetti than anyone else.

“It's almost like every 10 minutes of his day are accounted for and planned for,” Dovales said. “To-the-minute detail, where like, ‘Okay, listen, meeting starts at 2:05. At 2:08, we're going to start, we're going to find a way to fix this backside step of this guard. By 2:10, I want to start getting to the play side tackle on this play.’ And it's so in detail.”

Cole Johnson, who played quarterback under Cignetti from 2019–21 at James Madison, called Cignetti a “savant” in regard to his film intake. Nobody views more tape than Cignetti, said Johnson, who added his former coach had an innate ability to identify flaws in opposing schemes and input new ideas to expose them during games.

“I would come in so many times in his office,” Johnson told Indiana Hoosiers On SI, “and he was like, ‘Oh, four years ago, this defensive coordinator ran this defense against this coverage, and it seems like he likes that against this formation. This play will work against that.’”

Dovales remembers film sessions where Cignetti would watch a play once and offer coaching advice to offensive linemen, defensive backs and running backs, then comment about the quarterback’s first step or critique a wide receiver’s release.

IUP players often wondered how Cignetti did it. They eventually reached a conclusion.

“That was our psychopath,” Dovales said. “We were alright with that. We wanted that psychopath in our corner.”

Cignetti’s time-exhaustive, if not psychotic, film study has no bounds. It also underscores an important principle he often told his players at IUP: It’s not the big things that matter. It’s a lot of small things that become one big thing. If teams master the little things and continually stack them together, success follows.

On the first day of spring camp in 2011 at IUP, Cignetti taught his players how to practice. He made them go to every station they’d be at, explaining what they’d do and how long they’d be there. Then, Cignetti blew the whistle, players ran to their next station and the process repeated itself.

Dovales copied the idea as an assistant at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, and he still does it as a strength coach. He explains how pieces of equipment work, cycles through stations and limits contact. Then, the next day, the training wheels come off.

“Now, we can move quickly. Now, everybody knows where they belong, or the expectation is there to know where you belong,” Dovales said. “I think that's what he created there, and we knew what he wanted out of practice.”

Details matter. Executing one’s job matters. Meeting the standard matters.

Cignetti rewarded results when possible — he let a wounded Tuck, battling through an ankle injury, get a carry in the conference championship game to check a box on his bucket list during his senior season.

But Cignetti is largely process-driven. He rewards no brownie points if the process behind the play isn’t sustainable or repeatable, and he certainly has no interest in praising luck. So, he praises effort, hard work and consistency. It’s how he builds, and identifies, leaders.

Cignetti no longer has permanent captains, but he did at IUP. He organized leadership classes and required those within it to read a book called “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.” Dovales, who earned captain status, still has his exact copy on his bookshelf.

Each week, players went over chapters and discussed leadership qualities and traits. They learned how to become team leaders and how to use those characteristics moving forward.

The book is full of military stories and tales from Roman times. The keys to leadership rest between the front and back covers.

“Probably the most important book in my college career, to be honest,” Dovales said. “And I'm forever grateful he had us read that book and go through that. That was the standard he set for us, what comes out of it, how do we correlate that to football.”

Cignetti often notes he made mistakes while he was at IUP, learning lessons about head coaching that only experience can provide. But he didn’t have to learn the methods behind building players into people.

Several former Crimson Hawks have a group chat that lights up every time Cignetti coaches big games. They re-hash memories from the old days, memories Cignetti helped create. It’s a conglomerate full of well-off, productive individuals — from business owners and financial advisers to coaches and a WWE wrestler — who still carry traces of Cignetti with them each day.

“Even outside of football, you see the players who went and finished through him, a lot of us are doing really successful,” Dovales said

On Monday night, the group chat will again light up as Cignetti leads the nation’s No. 1 team out of the tunnel with a chance to win its first national championship. He’s built the Hoosiers from perennial also-rans to a budding powerhouse. He’s built players into smart, accountable, disciplined and non-complacent people.

Cignetti is college football’s best constructor — on the field and off it. His teams win, his players flourish and his legacy grows. But his reputation, now more than ever, remains the same as it was 15 years ago.

“He changes programs,” Tuck said, “and players.”