Coaching Carousel (Football)
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skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Look, I get that NIL changes everything. I get that the college landscape has and is changing rapidly.
However, Indinia football has basically no history. None. Three...3..bowl wins. Two conference titles, 1945, and 1967. Their most famous coach Lee Corso had two winning seasons in 10 years. 7 Consensus All Americans...ever.
If Cignetti turns down insane money (it will be) to continue to build that program long term, he is either the dumbest college football coach in history, or he immediately becomes one of the most respected coaches in history.
Even as bad as Illinois Football has been for the last 25 years, save a few bright years, the program history is startlingly lopsided.
I'm not even going to bother looking at a PSU history comparison.
If I hand you the keys to a classic Ferrari, Porsche, or Corvette, are you seriously going to say "nah, ima fix up this 1971 Mercury station wagon."??
Mad...mad props if he does. Emphasis on "mad".
Edit: yes, your 1971 Mercury station wagon can be modified to beat my _________ (Ferrari, Porsche, or Corvette) in a given drag race., but it will still be a 1971 Mercury station wagon....and in a track race....you might have a couple good laps.
However, Indinia football has basically no history. None. Three...3..bowl wins. Two conference titles, 1945, and 1967. Their most famous coach Lee Corso had two winning seasons in 10 years. 7 Consensus All Americans...ever.
If Cignetti turns down insane money (it will be) to continue to build that program long term, he is either the dumbest college football coach in history, or he immediately becomes one of the most respected coaches in history.
Even as bad as Illinois Football has been for the last 25 years, save a few bright years, the program history is startlingly lopsided.
I'm not even going to bother looking at a PSU history comparison.
If I hand you the keys to a classic Ferrari, Porsche, or Corvette, are you seriously going to say "nah, ima fix up this 1971 Mercury station wagon."??
Mad...mad props if he does. Emphasis on "mad".
Edit: yes, your 1971 Mercury station wagon can be modified to beat my _________ (Ferrari, Porsche, or Corvette) in a given drag race., but it will still be a 1971 Mercury station wagon....and in a track race....you might have a couple good laps.
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It is only 9 or 10 mil if he quits. 56 is if he is fired.
you would have to be insane to stay at Indiana. Don't get me wrong - sometimes insane is good (and this might be that magical moment). But everything is 5x easier at a Penn State than an Indiana, regardless of the success he has had. Doesn't mean Penn State is the right place - there are going to be a ton of great openings this offseason.
Maybe I missed something, but PSU is a Nike school. Why would Adidas have anything to do with this?
For me college basketball already is. I’m a bandwagon fan at this point. If IL is good, then I will be into the team and excited about the games. If they are average or below average, I’m completely checked out bc I have no attachment to mercenaries on one year contracts especially if most have no connection to IL high school basketball.
With football there’s at least way less movement and you can see guys stick around 3-4 years
With football there’s at least way less movement and you can see guys stick around 3-4 years
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
This is the context I'm contesting. What is easier at Penn State?
Getting paid? Indiana will gladly pay whatever Penn State will offer.
Recruiting? Ciggy does very little high school recruiting. He was able to bring in a potential top-10 NFL QB prospect to Bloomington through the transfer portal.
Building a staff? Ciggy brought everyone with him to IU that he wanted.
NIL? Indiana is crushing this.
Winning? Ciggy is winning as many games at Indiana that Penn State would dream of making with their next hire.
For me, the path for bringing Ciggy to Penn State would be the pull to come home. If he wants to come home, he has the power to make that happen. I get it, it's crazy for some folks to comprehend that the Indiana football job looks better right now than the Penn State job(!) because it's proven that Ciggy can win the Big Ten there and he has zero job pressure and his fan base is giving the program oodles of money.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
For contrast, I would argue that recruits aren't choosing Indiana football. They are choosing Curt Cignetti. Indiana is just the financier in the transfer portal world, and they have proven to give Ciggy whatever he wants.
Also, what's the analogy where Penn State is the Ferrari, Porsche, or Corvette but the most heinous crime imaginable happened in the back seat?
Love the analogy!
Riffing on that, are we sure the Porsche isn't a late 80's era 924 that finally hit 250k on the odometer?
Put differently, objectively, what has Penn State football actually done in the last 20 years to indicate they are still worthy of lux sports car comparisons? I'm not talking about a total "one off" of making the final four last year.
Penn State switches to Adidas in 2026.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Well, I was trying to stick to a simple football program comparison.
And none of those cars have a back seat.
And if anyone claps back(seat) about the 911, or Porsche SUVs, you are hereby summarily dismissed.
Now, about that 71 Mercury station wagon…
You can name off the greatest coaches in CFB history, players still came for the program and its history/reputation.
Cigs is really good, but he ain’t Football Jesus-ing a 71 Mercury station wagon into ________ (OSU, scUM, Ala, Georgia, Texas, ND, Penn St, et al.)
This is WAY more “lightning in a bottle” than “Indinia is the next Alabama”.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
they just switched
There seems to be a lot of confidence that winning requires blue blood status, or that at least blue blood status makes winning a whole lot easier, and I just don't understand where all this confidence comes from when Cignetti already has an Indiana team with ZERO football history playing the best football in the country.
And the idea that a talented head coach can turn a program with little history into a powerhouse is not a new NIL-era idea. Before Bobby Bowden took over Florida State, they'd won TWO bowl games in their entire history as a program. He turned that program from nothing into a football powerhouse. Their history may have been worse than Indiana's when Cig took over. FSU was a 71' Mercury Station wagon that became a Ferrari and is now probably something like a ten-year old Toyota Camry. But with the right coach, could FSU be a Ferrari again? Sure, I don't think many of us would discount that possibility. So why can't we accept that Indiana, which has a huge advantage over FSU by being in the Big Ten, could also become a Ferrari with the right coach? Especially since it pretty much is one right now.
I would love nothing else than Cignetti go elsewhere and IU drift back into obscurity
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I think part of it is the football vs basketball school mentality. There's a perception that fans and donors won't be enthused for football because they are so steeped in basketball tradition. I think it's possible to have success (Alabama seems to be showing this) but I also disagree with posters who think the alumni base will support football over basketball. Basketball is king in Indiana. That won't change IMO. Football is king in Alabama. Didn't someone mention the weak turnout for our Bball game in Alabama last year? Hard to change the culture.
You're acting like Penn State is the only offer he will ever get.
If you're winning, you're happy, you're making more money than 99.9% of the world, then you could, and should, wait for a fit that you really want. Jobs open up all the time. By your own post you call out how took an absolute 0 of a program to a national title contender almost immediately. Do you think he couldn't do that at another school? A school where he and his family would be happy to retire in?
Just felt a need to weigh in on this to add a little detail. That late 80's 924 was actually renamed to a 924S as Porsche started importing them again. I know because I bought one. Drove it for 5 years before I stupidly totaled it. Oh well. What a solid car. Put a smile on my face every time I got behind the wheel.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Sure ok, nowhere have I insinuated that it's not possible....but it's most certainly not very likely.
I don't recall seeing anyone saying that "winning requires blue blood status". And if you don't think the top "blue blood" teams are winning consistently, or "easier" because they are those programs, I don't know what to tell you.
Theoretically every powerhouse team had no real history prior to becoming a powerhouse. It took Bowden a decade to make FSU what it became in the 80's.
Catching transfer gold is just not going to happen every year. All of those powerhouses are 2 and 3 deep with 4 and 5 star HS talent every year at all of the skill positions.
As mentioned in another post Cigs (and Indinia for that matter) aren't HS recruiting like that. All of those other programs are. A quick look at '26 recruiting tells you a lot.
And as I said from the beginning, if he does stay...mad props. Indinia is going to be good B1G program. But are they honestly going to start out recruiting OSU, scUM, PSU, Nebraska, USC, Wash., or even our own Illini?
Because that's what it will take to turn the 71 Mercury station wagon into even a respectable Mustang, let alone a Ferrari.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
I am? I'm simply talking about the one open position that makes sense for him currently. That's all.
I don't really care much what he does personally. It's just fun message board speculation.
It's also fun to call Indinia football a modified 71 Mercury station wagon.
Edit: and to tie in to what you said...he absolutely could be waiting for something else. He has ties to Alabama, WVU (played there) and hell he could want back into the NFL so.....
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The funny thing is Ruhle is worse than Franklin. I’d rank them:
1. Campbell
2. Franklin
3.Ruhle
The downed punt was like a turnover. If you have 4 turnovers you rarely win against anyone let alone #1 team in nation.
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