Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti hopes success breeds more success.
He joined Greg McElroy’s “Always College Football” podcast, noting that the Hoosiers‘ College Football Playoff season in 2024 enabled them to attract top transfers.
“Without that success, you don’t land a Fernando Mendoza or a Pat Coogan, and some of those other guys we were able to get,” Cignetti said.
Mendoza joined IU from California, where he completed 66.5% of his passes for 4,712 yards, 30 touchdowns and 16 interceptions over two seasons. Coogan, an offensive lineman, came from Notre Dame, which knocked IU out of the CFP.
“Where you’re seeing it now is in high school recruiting. In the last two or three weeks, we’ve picked up seven or eight quality commitments,” the coach added.
Several in-state Class of 2026 players have committed to IU, including Franklin Central defensive lineman Blake Smythe, Crown Point tight end/linebacker Trevor Gibbs and Decatur Central defensive back Kasmir Hicks, who is rated the state’s top player.
IU used the transfer portal to a larger degree last year, with more than a dozen players following Cignetti from his previous coaching stop at James Madison.
“That’s all promises and a vision,” he said of building that team. “Now you’ve got results to show for it.”
Though the future looks bright, Cignetti acknowledges the common trepidation of coaches.
“I have the typical post-Spring anxiety that I always do this summer,” he said.
