Is There Unspoken Tension Between Two Legendary D1 Football Coaches?

Now and then, college football fanatics are blessed with some sort of generational talent that calls the shots and embodies the spirit of the school they are at. Sometimes, supporters of certain schools, particularly located in the south, can enjoy the luxury of having more than one genius pulling the strings for their respective teams. For Alabama, this was the scenario that may have sparked the greatest program turnaround in college football history. For Indiana, this was the situation that eventually gave them their coach, who brought the Hoosiers to the highest-ranked position in program history.

Alabama’s dominance in college football started when Nick Saban joined the program in 2007, where he brought along three future successful coaches: Kirby Smart from the Miami Dolphins to be the DB coach, Major Applewhite, for the offensive coordinator position, and Curt Cignetti to become the WR coach. In their first season in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide finished a modest 7-6 with a devastating loss at home to Louisiana-Monroe, which was their second-to-last game of the season, and a huge morale killer. Of course, Alabama would bounce back, as they won 12 games in 2008 and the national championship in 2009. By this time, Curt Cignetti, who had just turned 49 and had already been in the coaching world since 1983, wanted a head coaching role, since he had built enough confidence that he could lead a team and be as successful as Saban was with Alabama. So, with very little help from Saban and a resume that wasn’t good enough to land even an FCS coaching gig, Cig took a massive pay cut and chose to coach Division II football at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

This was a questionable move at the time, but Cignetti didn’t care, as he had felt he’d already proven himself and was ready to lead a team to dominance no matter their level. After inheriting a 4-10 record, through his six years with IUP, Cignetti finished 53-17, with three NCAA playoff appearances, and two conference championships. After leaving IUP in 2016, Cignetti made his return to Division 1, albeit FCS, becoming the head coach of Elon’s football program. Once again, Cig inherited a team with a terrible record in previous seasons, and in just his first year, led Elon to win eight straight games and got them ranked as high as sixth in the FCS. The following year, Cignetti led Elon to defeat James Madison, snapping their 22-game conference winning streak. This ultimately would lead JMU to hire Cignetti the following year, where he spent five years with them, as his final two were spent in the FBS playing against legitimate competition. 

Amidst all this success, the Indiana Hoosiers came calling, and it's pretty obvious how well that is going so far, becoming ranked third in the AP Top-25 as of Week Eight, the highest in program history. There is and will always be speculation of whether or not Nick Saban was a force in Cignetti not getting hired anywhere in the FBS following the 2010 season, as he may have seen Cig as a threat to him. Ironically enough, Saban had a somewhat similar journey to Alabama as Cig did to Indiana. The one difference between the two was that Saban inherited the talent and the stars, while Cignetti had to grind his entire career just to get an opportunity to coach in a Power Four conference at age 62. If Curt Cignetti had Nick Saban’s roster, it is not crazy to say that he would win just as many, if not more, championships with Alabama. But what if the roles were reversed? Well, they already have been, however, with an asterisk, as Saban did coach Michigan State from 1995-1999, where he didn’t have any success until his final year, when they won 10 games along with the Citrus Bowl. Cignetti, in a year and a half at Indiana, has 17 wins, with his most recent one coming against third-ranked Oregon, the team Saban picked to win on College Gameday. This isn’t the first time Saban has doubted Cignetti, as he also picked Illinois to beat Indiana just a month ago, right before they got demolished 63-10, along with multiple picks against IU opponents last year. 

There has yet to be any public discourse or beef between the two, but despite Cignetti proving himself and Indiana to be elite many times, Saban still can’t accept the truth, even after potentially gatekeeping him from a head coaching job 15 years ago. These are two men who have cemented each of their legacies in college football, even though the gap is a lot closer than many think. Cignetti is a grinder who brought his programs from the ground up and wasn’t fortunate to overtake a loaded roster and coaching staff. Saban is a winner who was blessed with a program that had a lot of money and a conference that valued their team as their money maker. This is something that has definitely been brewing for years, and it will be interesting to see if Cig can lead this Indiana team to a championship and how it will potentially affect Saban.