Nick Saban offers strong advice to major college football head coach

Pasadena, CA, USA; Nick Saban on the ESPN College Gameday set during the 2026 Rose Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff at Rose Bowl Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This year’s College Football Playoff bracket produced a surprising final matchup, with No. 1 Indiana facing No. 10 Miami in the national title game at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night.

Indiana’s run included a dominant Rose Bowl quarterfinal, where the Hoosiers dismantled No. 9 Alabama 38–3, followed by a lopsided 56–22 Peach Bowl semifinal win over No. 5 Oregon.

Miami reached the title game from the lower seed line, starting with a first-round nailbiter over No. 7 Texas A&M, then a 24–14 Cotton Bowl upset of No. 2 Ohio State, and a 31–27 Fiesta Bowl semifinal victory over No. 6 Ole Miss.

On a Monday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Nick Saban praised Curt Cignetti’s work at Indiana but warned of the next challenge: once you win, “you become the mountain.”

"He (Cignetti) has done a phenomenal job at Indiana. So everybody wanted to come to Indiana. People wanted to transfer there. Everybody wanted to go there because they wanted to prove something. That's how it was at Alabama," Saban said.

"Then, when you win, and you've climbed the mountain successfully, you become the mountain. Now everybody wants to come because of what your program can do for them, and that dynamic changes everything dramatically in terms of how you got to motivate your players."

"Once we won, everybody was coming to Alabama for what Alabama could do for them, and that changed the dynamic dramatically, and that was more challenging for me as a coach," Saban added.

"Whatever you did for the 15 games that got you here, you want to make sure your team stays in that mindset." ✍️

Nick Saban on Curt Cignetti and Indiana ahead of their matchup against Miami 🏆

(via @patmcafeeshow) pic.twitter.com/u18Gy2WuoO

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) January 19, 2026

Cignetti was hired at Indiana on Nov. 30, 2023, following a long coaching career that included assistant stops at several FBS programs, including Rice, Temple, NC State and Alabama under Nick Saban, before head coaching success at IUP, Elon and James Madison.

In two seasons with the Hoosiers, he has transformed Indiana from a middling program into a Big Ten champion and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, earning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors and an eight-year, $93 million contract extension in October.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti during a press conference ahead of the College Football Playoff Championship | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cignetti rebuilt Indiana rapidly by leaning on the transfer portal, recruiting experienced, pro-style players who stepped in and produced immediately.

Targeted additions formed the backbone of Indiana’s rise, notably quarterback Fernando Mendoza (Cal), center Pat Coogan (Notre Dame), wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (JMU), tight end Riley Nowakowski (Wisconsin), and running backs Roman Hemby (Maryland) and Kaelon Black (JMU).

If Indiana wins, or even sustains this level of success, it validates a portal-first model as a repeatable pathway to elite status and forces established programs to rethink roster strategy.

However, Saban’s comments underscore the challenge that would follow, as Cignetti would need to prove he can sustain culture, motivation, and development once Indiana becomes a marquee destination.

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