Curt Cignetti has already accomplished what many coaches spend entire careers chasing at Indiana, but he’s only just beginning to think about how the story ends. While reflecting on the road ahead, the Hoosiers coach revealed that Bloomington is where he expects to close out his coaching career. He credited Athletics Director Scott Dolson and University President Pamela Whitten for believing in his vision and giving him the opportunity to build something special. That naturally led the conversation to a bigger question.

After orchestrating one of college football’s most remarkable turnarounds in less than two years, what kind of legacy does Cignetti hope to leave behind? When former quarterback Adam Breneman posed exactly that question, the veteran coach didn’t point to trophies or victories.

“I can’t control that,” Curt Cignetti said on the Next Up with Adam Breneman podcast. “We’ve accomplished a lot in two years, but the big challenge is coming up again, and we’re getting ready for it. It’s been a great ride. I think the biggest thing is the way the fans have turned out and how we’ve become a football state and a football school. It’s incredible what football can do for a university, a town, a state, and all the alums. And just to see them so excited, everywhere we go, a donor event, whatever, that’s gratifying.”

Before Cignetti arrived, Indiana State was known as a basketball school. The football program was just there for namesake, to say the least.

For 125 years, from the team’s very first kickoff around 1899 all the way to 2024, the Hoosiers had never won a national championship. To put it bluntly, Indiana held the miserable title of the losingest program in all of college football history.

By the time  Cignetti took over in late 2023, the school had racked up an embarrassing 534 all-time losses. Between 1995 and 2023, the team only managed to finish with a winning record three times. Just before his arrival, the Hoosiers held a 9-27 record over a three-year stretch, which is an average of 3 wins.

Cignetti came, saw, and changed the trajectory of Indiana State for once and for all, dragging the Hoosiers to a stunning 27-2 record over his first two years, including an undefeated 16-0 season, a Big Ten Championship, and the school’s first-ever National Championship.

Despite all that, the most proud accomplishment, and one thing he wants to be remembered for, is how his Hoosiers have totally transformed the community.

Curt believes football has a unique ability to bring town folks, the university, and its 700,000 alumni together, bringing tons of joy that no money simply could ever possibly buy.

Before Cignetti, Memorial Stadium got sold out only eight times total across a 23-year span (from 2000 to 2023). Mind you, it wasn’t because local fans were excited about the Hoosiers. But because other blue-blood opponents like Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State traveled to Bloomington and bought up all the tickets, turning it into a de facto home game for themselves.

Fast forward to the upcoming season, 3 months out for kick-off, the stadium’s at its capacity, fully booked, all within just three or two weeks of their national championship run.

Breneman pointed out how wild it is to stand in a sold-out Memorial Stadium today compared to the empty, quiet bleachers from just three years ago, calling the difference night and day. Even with a ‘highest paid’ new contract extension keeping him around, Cignetti is refusing to let his program get complacent one bit. He told Breneman that while the past two years were a great ride, the “big challenge” is coming up all over again as they head into the upcoming season.