Long before the national championship. Long before dominating the D2 level with IUP, Curt Cignetti toiled as an assistant. He had his legendary father to instill a relentless work ethic and coaching philosophy in him. But amid that, he also had a four-year stint under Nick Saban at Alabama. That tenure, coaching the WRs and working closely with Saban, introduced him to the ‘process.’ However, he fully grasped it all when he became a head coach.

“Is there anything that maybe you didn’t understand about Coach Saban at the time that now, as a head coach, you do?” PSU alum Adam Breneman asked Cignetti on his podcast 4 days ago.

“A ton,” Cignetti replied. “You know, avoiding complacency, structure, organization, standards, accountability. Just urgency, you name it, he had it,” Cignetti replied.

Cignetti’s father, Frank Sr., a Hall of Famer, coached IUP (1986–2005, two PSAC titles) after West Virginia (1976–79), where Saban served on his staff. That bond proved crucial when Saban took over Alabama’s job in 2007; he brought Cignetti Sr.’s son onto his staff.

“I just learned so much,” Cignetti said about working under Saban on Josh Pate’s podcast. “He had a philosophy. He could lay it out there where it just made so much sense. He had an organized, detailed plan for everything. And really, after one year with (Saban), I felt like I had learned more about how to run a program than maybe the previous 28 as an assistant.”

As recruiting coordinator, Cignetti helped land top-5 classes featuring Heisman winner Mark Ingram, Julio Jones, and Dont’a Hightower. In a sense, it was a looping influence on Cignetti. His father himself had taught Saban recruiting. At Alabama, Saban also drew on those principles to mentor Frank Sr.’s son.

Despite Saban’s influence on Cignetti, the IU head coach was decisive enough to chart his own career trajectory.

Curt Cignetti opens up on leaving Alabama

The Nick Saban coaching tree includes Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning, Steve Sarkisian, and Lane Kiffin. You name a current successful head coach, and it’s highly likely that they are associated with Saban. Most of his assistant coaches left to lead D-1 programs. That’s usually the step in the right direction for climbing the ladder. Cignetti wasn’t most coaches. Because of his dad’s influence, Cignetti wanted to be a head coach from third grade, and when IUP made an offer, he didn’t budge despite Saban’s insistence that he not leave.

“Always felt I’d be a good head coach,” Cignetti said. “But you got to have that opportunity, too. And then you’ve got to go out and prove it and do it. It was an unprecedented move.”

Now at Indiana with a championship trophy, Cignetti made the right choice more than a decade ago. Maybe if he persisted with Alabama, he would also be a top HC like other Saban assistants. But it would be nothing like what he achieved at Indiana.