Indiana's Curt Cignetti Learned Valuable Lesson in Keeping Your Mouth Shut

“Don’t write a check with your mouth that your ass can’t cash.”

My mom once told me that growing up. Can’t quite remember why. Somebody should probably tell that to Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, who did a lot of talking all season long just to get demoralized in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Way back when Cignetti got hired in November 2023 after a successful run with James Madison University, he was asked about how he plans on getting recruits to come to an Indiana program that appeared to be rebuilding.

“Google me,” Cignetti said. “I win.”

Cignetti backed that statement up. He landed starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke in December and running backs Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton. 

The season could not have started any better for Cignetti’s Hoosiers, as their unbeaten 10-0 record had the attention of the nation before getting curb stomped 38-15 by Ohio State.

Before his first real test against the Buckeyes, Cignetti said, “Ohio State sucks,” at halftime of an Indiana basketball game. Bulletin board material? Sure seemed that was as Ohio State quarterback Will Howard went viral for “putting out the cig” celebration after thrashing the Hoosiers in Columbus.

That should have been Cignetti’s first lesson: to keep his yap shut. He did not learn.

Indiana bounced back from that loss with a 66-0 rout of the Purdue Boilermakers. Despite Purdue’s hapless 1-11 record, that victory put the wind right back in Cignetti’s sails before their College Football Playoff matchup with Notre Dame. 

“We don’t just beat top 25 teams, we beat the shit out of them.”

That’s what Cignetti actually said on the set of ESPN’s College Game Day just hours before the Hoosiers kicked off with the Fighting Irish. It’s important to note that despite Cignetti’s impressive 11-1 record in his first year coaching Indiana, literally none of those victories came against Top 25 teams.

To make things even more hilarious, No. 5 Notre Dame completely embarrassed Indiana in a game where the Hoosiers looked like they did not belong on that same stage.

It’s a friendly reminder for the new coach of Indiana to just keep his mouth shut. Every time he opened it this year, he paid the price. It’s part of what made Indiana a story for a little while, but when the lights were the brightest, Cignetti’s team wasn’t as bold as his comments to the media.

That’s never a good thing.