Future NFL Hall of Famer Weighs In on Indiana Coach Curt Cignetti

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has won everywhere he's gone.

If you don't think so, just take him up on his now famous request, and "Google him". He's been involved in winning a lot of football games over the years and is now just hours from coaching one of the biggest in his career.

Indiana plays Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Thursday afternoon, just the second trip to the famed game in the long history of the program.

When Cignetti and the Hoosiers take the field, they'll have the support of a former pupil of the Indiana head coach, one that will likely one day end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Phillip Rivers Discusses Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti

rewind the tape 25 years and Curt Cignetti was an assistant coach at North Carolina State. Starting as tight ends coach there, Cignetti moved to coach the quarterbacks for the 2003 season.

That just happened to be when a star college quarterback by the name of Phillip Rivers manned the position for the Wolfpack. Rivers, now 45 years old and a member of the Indianapolis Colts, was asked about Cignetti during Wednesday's media availability.

Philip Rivers position coach his senior season in college?

Curt Cignetti.

Here’s Rivers talking Cignetti today #iufb: pic.twitter.com/FxwVB6kqP3
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) December 31, 2025

"Oh, yeah, Coach Cignetti was great. He was with tight ends my first three years. He was a quarterback coach my senior year. So I was with him all four years there, and obviously that was over 20 years ago. But super, super smart, super smart. Really good teacher in the meeting room, as I remember, and it's had an awesome career just seeing his path, you know, he was at Alabama, there for a while, and then seeing him just kind of move up the ladder as a head coach, and really, as he said, won everywhere he's been. And so we've kept in touch somewhat, not a ton, but somewhat, certainly the last year or two, just let him know I was pulling for him. And so it'll be really fun to see them, you know, up against Alabama."

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

It's not as much as a takeaway for "oh, Phillip Rivers knew back then" or anything of the sort, but to me the interesting thing is going back and looking at the career of coaching lifers like Cignetti.

It's always fun to pull up a longtime coaches resume and see stops he's made previously, and start to play the connection game of other coaches he spent time with or players he may have made an impact on early in their careers.

Rivers certainly fits that bill for Cignetti, as the Indiana coach seems to really be preaching urgency ahead of Thursday's showdown against Alabama.