Curt Cignetti, 64, a “curmudgeon” who came out of nowhere to lead the Indiana Hoosiers to the brink of a national title

The Curmudgeon

When he was hired in November 2023 to direct the fortunes of the Indiana Hoosiers football program, one that had experienced little success in its history, the fans likely said, “Curt who?”

Why would a program that wanted to develop a reputation as a Big Ten contender hire a guy who had been a head coach at Div. II Indiana-Pa., Elon, a school no one ever heard of, and James Madison, which had been an FCS school before he arrived?

Well, the decision now makes athletic director Scott Dolson look like a genius. Granted, the Hoosiers have a tremendous challenge tonight in facing Oregon, which had been the number one seed last year but failed to arrive. He might now succeed on that national stage.

However, the undefeated Big Ten champion Hoosiers are the number one seed in the College Football Playoffs, something most Hoosier fans could never have envisioned in 2023. They had just endured three consecutive losing seasons and the future looked bleak.

Yet, the Indiana AD saw something in the 62-year-old Cignetti that his fans did not,

"We had a very talented and deep pool of candidates, and Curt stood out thanks to an incredible track record of success over more than four decades in college football. As a head coach he's succeeded everywhere he's been, and as an assistant he has been a part of championship cultures while working alongside some of the game's best coaches.

ESPN, Nov. 2023

The Curmudgeon

Now, the Hoosiers are America’s favorite Cinderella team. However, he is now being scrutinized by every major publication.

This is how the New York Times referred to him: as a curmudgeon,

He’s altered the landscape of college football on his own, appraising each step below his now famous arched brow.

He’s seen his annual head coaching salary mushroom from $125,000 when he was first named head coach of a Division II program in 2011 to $11.6 million, which somehow still seems like a bargain.

He’s the centerpiece for the exact type of long-shot sports story made for the silver screen.coach Curt Cignetti having a good time?

Christopher Kamrani and Scott Dochterman, “With an arched brow and hands on hips, Curt Cignetti is college football’s can’t miss curmudgeon,” The New York Times, Jan. 8, 2026

Having a good time?

For context, Merriam-Webster defines curmudgeon this way:

: a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man

Merriam-Webster dictionary

Cignetti is certainly not an old man, but what the story presents is a man who hardly ever smiles. One of his former players at James Madison refers to him this way,

“I used to call him Batman,” [D’Angelo} Ponds said. “Like, I couldn’t really read what he was doing. But once you kind of get to know him, you understand, like, what is reactions are to everything.”

The one impressive part of his resume

Forget about his temperament. If his Hoosiers defeat Oregon tonight and advance to the national title game, it will be one impressive story of a 60-something who proves that 65 is not a good retirement age.

What the AD may have noticed on Cignetti’s resume was that he was recruiting coordinator and assistant coach to Nick Saban at Alabama during a period when the team won a national title and won 29 consecutive regular-season games.

Cignetti recruited some of the great stars of those years, so maybe not a curmudgeon.

He also succeeded at IUP, Elon, and James Madison, taking teams to great heights — despite his crusty demeanor. The Times piece, written by a rather shady unit called “The Athletic,” tried to justify its stance as a curmudgeon,

His curmudgeonly looks have made him a recent star on TikTok. Cignetti, in the Gen Z parlance, is “a mood.” He cracks people up with his unimpressed expressions, unchanging in the most intense moments, allowing viewers a chance to explain how they feel in similar situations. He’s a mood, and he’s a meme. He’s been compared to the cranky boss in “The Incredibles” and he’s been caught on camera flashing an old school nod to Pat McAfee right before the biggest game of his life.

New York Times, Jan. 2026

In any case, he has America rooting for him, and I am one of them.