Curt Cignetti Reflects on Late Father, Former WVU Coach, After National Title

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, there was a quarterback on West Virginia's football roster by the name of Curt Cignetti, the son of former WVU head coach, Frank Cignetti Sr. (1976-79). Because he was a backup to Oliver Luck and Kevin White, Cignetti never became a household name in college football during his playing days.

Now, he's on top of the world.

On Monday night, Cignetti led the Indiana Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship, defeating Miami, 27-21. In his postgame press conference, he was asked about his father, who passed away at the age of 84 back in 2022.

This one's for you, Frank ❤️

Curt Cignetti dedicated the win to his late father. pic.twitter.com/0IzaWTsApN
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) January 20, 2026

“I thought about him after the game when I stuck my two fingers in the air, and then the Big Ten network asked me about him. And I said, ‘Oh, you’re wanting me to get all choked up, right?’ When we went from FCS to FBS in the Sun Belt, our first game, he was in a coma. We beat that FBS team 48-10 in the opener. My family told me that they told him in the hospital that we won 48-10, and they said he smiled. Then we had a great win against Appalachian State the week after he died down there after they beat (Texas) A&M. We were down 28-3 in the second quarter and came back and won. So, hopefully he was watching today. He was a great role model. I was very blessed to have a father like that.”

What Cignetti accomplished is almost incomprehensible. He took the losingest program in the history of college football and led it to the top of the mountain in just two years.

His immediate success in Bloomington has many West Virginia fans upset that Neal Brown wasn't fired earlier, so that they could make a play to bring Cignetti home. The reality is, the way his father was treated by fans soured his relationship with the university. The team was struggling in a big way during those four seasons, but the program was in a tough spot, as WVU historian John Antonik laid out in his recent story.

Things were not only challenging on the football field for Cignetti, but off of it as well. Toward the end of his tenure at WVU, he was diagnosed with lymphomatoid granulomatosis, a rare form of cancer. I can't even begin to fathom how difficult that time had to be for him, learning of that diagnosis and then losing your job not long after. So yeah, it's understandable and quite reasonable to think Curt may not have had interest in WVU if offered.

Still, he will forever be a West Virginia Mountaineer, and now a national champion.

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