Cignetti proves he is CFB's best coach right now
Nicole Auerbach and Joshua Perry break down why Curt Cignetti has proven he is the best coach in college football and his ability to lead a championship-winning program at Indiana.
Video Transcript
That's something that I've been thinking about a little bit.
Joshua.
I mean, we've been saying it.
I saw our friend Bruce Feldman wrote it, Kurt Cignetti is the best coach in college football now, right?
Like, he has dethroned Kirby Smart from the top spot?
Without a doubt, and I- this is- when you say that, I think people get really sensitive because, you know, I- for some reason, they take that as like, "We don't think Kirby's a good coach," or, We don't think Ryan Day or Marcus Freeman, or Dan Lanning, or whoever you wanna put at the one, you know, spots ahead of Kurt Cignetti before this year.
They act like we're saying that those people can't coach, And that's...
It's just not the case.
It's just the fact that Kurt Cignetti has proven, um, his ability to win a title, and he's done it at a place that has historically never done it.
And, and people would say, up until this year, would not be able to win a title.
Um, and I think the other thing that becomes intriguing when you talk about how good of a coach he is, is for so long in this sport, the best coaches were synonymous with being accumulate the best talent and to recruit the most difficult areas and to win the biggest recruiting battles.
And as you and I have talked about, your ability to recruit and close on big-time recruits is a secondary skill.
Set in this day and age of college football.
You actually have to be a coach.
A strategist, a, um, you know, a guy who can go in there, win in the margins, a guy who can go in there and create game plans.
A guy who can teach his players, and ultimately a guy who can help develop in that way.
And, you know, Ryan Day could recruit.
Uh, Kirby Smart could recruit.
Dan Lanning can recruit.
Like, Cignetti portal class looks pretty good.
But we haven't seen that, and I think a lot of people are still stuck in that an A1 recruiter to be the best coach in the country, too.
Well, also, when you think about, like, coaching tiers.
Which, um, you know, I used to give, you know, contribute to.
They do them with The Athletic, um, and other outlets do them.
Too.
Usually, the top tier is the coaches that have a national championship.
There's, there's not many.
Sure ...
Active coaches right now that have them.
What, it's, we're up to four?
Right?
It's- Right... Saban, Kirby, Ryan Day, and now Curt Cignetti.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Um, so that is the group that you're talking about.
When you talk about winning with a team that is not as talented as many of the teams that it played over the course of the season, you immediately need to give the edge to coaching.
And then all of the other reasons that we've talked about.
About his talent identification, um, the preparation, the coaching staff.
All, all of the things that go into that, um, I think is part of it.
I, I wanna play sound from the press conference that Kurt Cignetti gave the national championship, which they make them do this at 9:00 a.m.
Which is so funny, after they probably have not slept, just as we haven't.
Um, and I thought this was a really interesting observation about where CFB is.
Today.
So here's, here's coach.
The question the players just answered about Indiana, I think that's called a paradigm shift.
Uh, you know, it's kind of like people can cling to an old way of thinking.
Uh, categorizing teams as this or that, or conferences as this or that.
Uh, or they can adjust to the new world, the shift of the power balance in world politics.
Football is today.
So, um, you know, I think to look back at what happened to Indiana previous to us coming 10, 20, 50 years ago.
Strictly lack of commitment from the top.
That's it.
Plain and simple, nothing else.
And we have a commitment.
I think that's part of it.
You also now have Kurt Cignetti, And you have- Yeah, it felt like he was oversimplifying what really happened there.
He really was.
Because, but again, part of this is gonna give hope to a lot more places.
Yeah.
And I just, I, I, I think that, like, a lot of places don't have that guy.
That's what I...
Uh, so, so this is where I wanna go.
Yeah.
I don't think everyone else is going to have a Kurt Cignetti: No... Who comes with, like, these coaches that have been with him for when they were, you know, at IUP or Elon, right?
Like, that they've been working together for 20 years.
Yeah... Or 10 years, whatever.
Forget what year he left.
Or the, the guy who, who is 10 years, over 10 years.
Um, or the guy who can say, All right, this linebacker may be a little bit undersized, maybe not the fastest in a line, but he's really smart.
He's got quick feet, he's got a really good punch.
He knows how to win at the point of attack."
I, I, I don't, I don't know a lot of guys that can do that at the level that Kurt Cignetti has done it.
And so- Right...
Yes, we, we've talked about elite alignment, and we've talked about that university probably needing to be studied in an how they were able to fully align.
We agree on that.
But part of it was, they also bucked the trend, and they went with the guy who was outside of the box as a coaching hire and, and ended up, like, getting the best coach in the game.
That absolutely matters, too.
Right.
So I think that, like, people will be able to take lessons from Indiana and improve.
You know, in shorter timelines than ever before.
Maybe people will look for outside-the-box hires and coaches that have had success at lower levels.
We always say that, and then they still want the hotshot coordinator names, but whatever.
There, there might be some that look outside of the box, but I just don't think you're gonna see a bunch of teams that win national championships in two years.
I, I do think you could see more of the non-blue blood teams get far in the playoff era.
Like, we've talked a lot about Texas Tech.
Sure.
I, I just, I, I, uh, Indiana feels gonna be a unicorn year.
Like, I, I don't.
Yeah...
I think everyone can want to be them, can want to copy things that they're going to do.
But they're not gonna be Indiana.
Indiana is Indiana.
It's, it's a one of one, and, like, even with Texas Tech and... Like, we've, we've seen Texas Tech have, like, good, great years.
Right?
Yeah.
Like, we've, we've seen- Patrick Mahomes was there.
Right, right.
I mean, uh, who was it?
Crabtree, and like, all those guys.
Yeah.
Like, they've had some of those teams where It's like, you know, maybe not a championship year.
They've had some, some very good years.
Like Indiana.
Really, really difficult to look and be like, "Okay, what was" like, what was the previous high point of that program?"
It was- like Michael Penix Jr. With the GoGo Gadget arm.
Yes.
Like, that was- Yes... That was it.
That was.
And, like, that was... Outside of that, I can't tell you.
Yeah.
And that's where I think it's hard to say that we'll see something like this.
Like, even with Tech, They've been around talent.
Like, they, you know, They've had some decent years.
They've had a guy like Mike Leach, who a lot of people think is, you know, one of the best guys to coach in football.
An innovator, and somebody who people have modeled their programs after before.
I just think it's different with Indiana.
Yeah, they have touchpoints too.
Like, the history of college football.
Indiana did not.
Um, and yeah, I mean, you had Lee Corso.
You had, like, some people who had ties to this program, but you never had those highs and those moments like you're describing.
It's kind of why it was funny to talk to people over the weekend of, like, "Hey, you know, it's not like Indiana's," like, a long-suffering fan base."
Like, they've not had these, like, crushing losses because they just never had hope.
It was, like, a very different 138 years to get here.
Right?
But you never believed that you were a football place or a football program.
My cousins who would go to games-- I'm sorry, who went to Indiana, did not go to games.
Like, it wasn't part of who they were.
Um, and I think that's totally different than, like, heartbreaking loss over.
Loss after heartbreaking loss, and then finally winning a title.
Um, so that's what's a little bit different about this.
Yeah.
But I do think the hope that they will give to more people that something is possible at a place that never thought it was possible.
Is huge.
Um, but I just- I think that's important, for sure.
It is really important, and I think- But not get ahead of ourselves.
And it's good for No, it is good for the story.
How exciting it is.
Yeah, we're just saying, like, you're not gonna-- just don't expect a national championship in two years, everywhere.
Right, right, right.
Like, I just- Yeah...
Think that's, that's the part that's- Yes.
Um, maybe not gonna happen.
