Coaching Carousel (Football)

[skyIdub]

Football programs now are way more transformative than a car. In modern football, Indiana is a Ferrari and will be as long as Cignetti stays.

Also, some of your Ferraris (Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Penn St,) are broken down Ferraris and might not run again like a Ferrari.

Ohhh fun. I can play that game too.

As a CFB program, It's a barn find Ferrari that will take years of restoration.

As it currently sits...it is a modified 71 Mercury station wagon that is winning a drag race.

 

[MustangWally]

Is Jimbo Fisher permanently out of coaching?
He's 60 years old.

 

[STLini25]

Ohhh fun. I can play that game too.

As a CFB program, It's a barn find Ferrari that will take years of restoration.

As it currently sits...it is a modified 71 Mercury station wagon that is winning a drag race.

That’s not a picture of Indiana football from 2024 to the foreseeable future

 

[the juiceman cometh]

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.

But thats how the blue bloods that are winning are doing it too. Sayin is a transfer and so was Howard last year (as was Judkins).

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.

Yes, I agree it says a lot that Indiana jumped from the #65 prep class in 2024 to the currently #27 prep class in 2026, with a coach who is in year 2 at the program. Just imagine what things are going to look like when he's made the playoff for the second consecutive season.

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?

His 2026 class is ranked ahead of Nebraska, basically even with our class, and not far behind Washington.

Honestly, why wouldn't they be able to do it? Do 18-19 year olds really care that much that Penn St. won 2 national championships in the 80s? Or even for that matter that USC won a couple (and vacated one) 20+ years ago?

 

[Illini92and96]

Actually it’s $21,917 per day … $913 per hour … $15 per minute … UNTIL 2031 !!!!!!!!

So what you are pointing out is Franklin is financially screwed in 2032. Poor guy.

 

[Illini92and96]

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.

My first was a 1989 944 turbo s. Very fun indeed!

 

[therealmiket86]

The downed punt was like a turnover. If you have 4 turnovers you rarely win against anyone let alone #1 team in nation.

We made a ton of mistakes in our 2 biggest games. Very disappointing

 

[JJE]

Do schools reconsider these huge buyouts? I know it offers security if they have a good coach, but if a coach is really that good is a buyout really going to stop a blue blood from going after them?

Probably too simplistic, but it just seems crazy the buyouts that have been paid the past couple of years.

 

[skyIdub]

But thats how the blue bloods that are winning are doing it too. Sayin is a transfer and so was Howard last year (as was Judkins).



Yes, I agree it says a lot that Indiana jumped from the #65 prep class in 2024 to the currently #27 prep class in 2026, with a coach who is in year 2 at the program. Just imagine what things are going to look like when he's made the playoff for the second consecutive season.


His 2026 class is ranked ahead of Nebraska, basically even with our class, and not far behind Washington.

Honestly, why wouldn't they be able to do it? Do 18-19 year olds really care that much that Penn St. won 2 national championships in the 80s? Or even for that matter that USC won a couple (and vacated one) 20+ years ago?

Ok cool. Another strawman.

Yes blue bloods are using transfers. They did not build their programs on transfers. But you knew that too.

Yes, just imagine. That's the only way a 71 Mercury station wagon looks like...even a 79 Trans Am in 5 years....let alone a Ferrari or a Porsche.

Great cherry pick with Nebraska (that's sarcasm if your meter is low on batteries). And it's 31 on other sites since I guess we are counting now.

And finally...again.....I've literally not said they(he) can't, won't, or wouldn't.

I simply came in to compare Indinia to PSU as a CFB coaching gig because it's an open job.

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

The funny thing is Ruhle is worse than Franklin. I’d rank them:
1. Campbell
2. Franklin
3.Ruhle

PSU fandom still can wonder what Ruhle’s upside is .
With Franklin, they knew what it was .

Campbell is just John Q Coach to them

 

[skyIdub]

That’s not a picture of Indiana football from 2024 to the foreseeable future

You're right...here it is....complete with some Hoosiers, and Labrador Retrievers.
With a sleepr LS3 engine swap under the hood.

Only thing it's missing is a covered bridge with Cignetti driving over it to his next job in an actual Ferrari.

 

[STLini25]

You're right...here it is....complete with some Hoosiers, and Labrador Retrievers.
With a sleepr LS3 engine swap under the hood.

Only thing it's missing is a covered bridge with Cignetti driving over it to his next job in an actual Ferrari.

I think your opinion of what a Ferrari football looks like post NIL might be dated. What you are value has been greatly devalued.

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

catching lightning in a bottle is not sustainable

I’ve seen this movie before . history repeats itself all the time and seldom are new things invented out of thin air

 

[TentakilRex]

I have a better analogy for Cignetti, his Indiana team is like Sandfall Interactive, creators of a potential game of year nominee in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This studio was by ex-Ubisoft employees like Cignetti is a Saban disciple, though Ubi is more like LSU for reasons. However will get offers from Penn State the Activision of CFB, I will not elaborate. Also Florida and Florida State are like Nintendo and they could offer Cignetti soon and the state of Florida has the Nintendo catalog of recruiting.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Ok cool. Another strawman.

Yes blue bloods are using transfers. They did not build their programs on transfers. But you knew that too.

Agree to disagree I guess. I think it's pretty obvious that QB is the most important position in football so when I that the #1, #2, #3, #5, #8, #11, #12, #14, #16, #17, #18, #20, #22, #23, and #24 teams in the most recent AP poll all are starting transfer QBs this season, it does cause me to conclude that doing well in the transfer portal is at least as important as prep recruiting, and possibly more important. You disagree it seems.

Cignetti did build this program on transfers, that is true, but the funny thing is they're transfers from James Madison, a program he recruited them to as prep players. So...we really think he's going to have a harder time recruiting to Indiana than he did at JMU? Does he get credit for recruiting those guys initially?

Great cherry pick with Nebraska (that's sarcasm if your meter is low on batteries). And it's 31 on other sites since I guess we are counting now.

I didn't pull Nebraska out of thin air...you literally listed Nebraska in your post and asked if anyone really expected that he could out-recruit them at Indiana...

 

[lstewart53x3]

Cig took a bottom of the barrel program to a CFP in his very first year.

Then lost 8 guys to the NFL (2 drafted + 6 undrafted free agents) and still got better his second year.

It’s one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of the sport. I’m sure he’ll continue doing very well whether he sticks at Indiana or decides to grab a blue blood job. I hope he eventually leaves the B1G, but he very well might be able to build a consistent Championship contender right there at Indiana (which is wild).

Even though I don’t like seeing this happen to Indiana of all teams, I like what it does for the sport. It shows:

1. Non blue bloods with the right coaching and resources can build a winner and quickly.
2. With the transfer portal, you can lose a lot, yet reload quickly and continue to win.

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

I don't think Cignetti ends up at PSU. As much as we'd hate to say it, I thought it was a bit premature for PSU. Very, very few programs could dream of being as successful as they've been. And they were always, always super competitive against the top of the top. And although this year was bad, it also likely wouldn't have ended up that bad - Florida State just went 2-10 a season ago.

I'm not sure any of the names other than Cignetti is a clear upgrade either. They also had five stars year in and year out so you'd (likely) be losing some ground in recruiting as those guys get poached.

 

[Illiniguy74]

Could it be a similar situation to that of Harv Schmidt at Illinois? Had success with committed, hard nosed, lunch pail kids when he first arrived. Subsequent higher level recruits had different values and objectives. Didn't end well for Harv who dearly loved Illinois.

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

A name I’m hearing for Penn State … I’m a little surprised but the interest is legit on both sides is the word …

Kliff Kingsbury …

Personally I think he’s just throwing his name at every HC job … Just to wind up with the Titans … But that’s just me …

 

[Curbelo Fanboy]

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.

Yes - I'm sure the football folks in Bloomington think "hey we're a football school now". Just wait til the next time they start a season 1-3 or have an awful loss. The basketball casuals will flee back to the hardwood. Especially if that side rights itself with their new coach.

And everytime they open the gates, PSU doubles IU in revenue if you use stadium capacity as a guide. PSU seats over 100k IU is a little over 50k. That is a perpetual advantage which means that difference has to be plugged by othe revenue sources to be even close to on similar footing. I've heard nothing of plans for them to build a new stadium so I'd assume that difference to continue as is for the time being.

 

[STLini25]

Yes - I'm sure the football folks in Bloomington think "hey we're a football school now". Just wait til the next time they start a season 1-3 or have an awful loss. The basketball casuals will flee back to the hardwood. Especially if that side rights itself with their new coach.

And everytime they open the gates, PSU doubles IU in revenue if you use stadium capacity as a guide. PSU seats over 100k IU is a little over 50k. That is a perpetual advantage which means that difference has to be plugged by othe revenue sources to be even close to on similar footing. I've heard nothing of plans for them to build a new stadium so I'd assume that difference to continue as is for the time being.

I agree PSU larger crowd is a competitive advantage but their revenue isn’t double. PSU athletic department revenue is about 15% bigger (it fluctuates) and Indiana athletic department is more profitable.

 

[skyIdub]

Lmfao…Agree to disagree on what? Yet another strawman that you created that I literally haven’t said anything about?

I can’t wait to see what I’m not arguing about next.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Shouting STRAWMAN as loud as possible, whether it applies or not, is definitely one way of responding when you don't have any substantive response. Or maybe that's also a strawman since you (likely) weren't actually shouting when you were typing out your response. Is rain on your wedding day a strawman? Or ironic? Or neither? Both?

Too bad, I was really curious as to why I was wrong to cite Nebraska as an example in response to you citing Nebraska as an example. Guess I'll never find out why that was out of bounds. Anyway, Wicker Man > Strawman.

 

[redwingillini11]

A name I’m hearing for Penn State … I’m a little surprised but the interest is legit on both sides is the word …

Kliff Kingsbury …

Personally I think he’s just throwing his name at every HC job … Just to wind up with the Titans … But that’s just me …

Does a Kliff Kingsbury style team match up well with Penn State? Maybe I'm ignorant, but it feels like one of those culture/style changes that won't work (Michigan-Rich Rod, Wisconsin-Fickle).

 

[hooraybeer]