LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Black suit, black shoes, a white shirt and a solid crimson tie. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti kept it simple, walking up to the podium for his opening statement at 2025 Big Ten Media Days.
He started with usual thank yous and immediately after, talked about having the single greatest season in 126 years of Indiana football, including the only 10-0 start and College Football Playoff berth in program history.
Cig didn’t keep it humble after that either — when in Vegas, he doubled down.
“I get questions, how are you going to sustain it? We're not looking to sustain it. We're looking to improve it,” Cignetti said.
Cignetti’s pressers weren’t as bold as his first, just a year ago, but he stayed confident and used plenty of his taglines.
The Clichés
“Consistency day in, day out,” Cignetti said in the opening statement. “Consistency is huge so that we can play fast, physical, relentless, smart, disciplined, poised, not affected by success, not affected by failure and never ever satisfied until the game is over.”
Cignetti ripped all his usual phrases pretty early on in his opening statement. But all were relevant and were proved to be truthful.
Keeping the same staff has led Cignetti and Co. to back-to-back 10-0 starts at James Madison and Indiana. Keeping the same players from his previous school to Indiana led to a “New Indiana” and created an intoxicating culture.
His players have begun to take extra reps after practice together, according to senior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt.
“You can't have the warm fuzzies, become complacent, begin to hate the things that got you to where you are,” Cignetti said.
He talked about complacency nearly every week last season, and he brought it to Vegas. The team isn’t satisfied with just being in the College Football Playoff last season. Cignetti and the Hoosiers want a ring, that’s the bottom line.
“And you know, we're trying to build a program,” Cignetti said. “That year in, year out competes for Big Ten championships and College Football Playoff. Ultimately, national championship. That's our vision.”
The Confidence
It wouldn’t be a Cignetti press conference without him being his confident self.
There are 38 days until Indiana kicks off against Old Dominion at home on Saturday, Aug. 30, and Cignetti is calling out the SEC as a whole.
When asked about cancelling the games against the University of Virginia, he brought up SEC teams' schedules as his comparative reasoning.
“We figured we would just adopt the SEC scheduling philosophy, you know,” Cignetti said. “Some people don't like it. I'm more focused on those nine conference games.”
According to Cignetti, 12 out of 16 SEC teams will play three Group of 5 schools or an FCS game in their out-of-conference schedule. That adds up to 12 SEC teams playing 36 games against 29 group of five games and seven FCS games. Oh, and he added that they play one less conference game.
That inevitably kicked up quite a stir in the college football media world, with the scheduling philosophy quote going around like a twister.
That wasn’t all.
“We wouldn't be opposed to Big Ten-SEC regular season games every year,” Cignetti said.
The quote was glossed over in the masses, but it was a clear challenge to the SEC as a whole. Cignetti kept his confidence on the main stage, unsurprisingly.
“I know I got to improve in a lot of ways, but I'm really good at keeping the main thing the main thing and being a watchdog for complacency and stomping it out,” Cignetti said.
The Hoosiers’ head coach knows the team has a lot to live up to after last season, but he says he can keep his squad focused and in check.
It’s only a matter of time until we find out if the Hoosiers and Cignetti live up to the 2024-25 season. In 38 days, the Hoosiers kick off against Old Dominion in Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30.
