Curt Cignetti breaks down the process of rebuilding Indiana football | NBC Sports

Intro so first of all congratulations right had a coaching job uh you've had great success everywhere you've been you know you've rebuilt programs You've Won everywhere um how does that get implemented now in Bloomington with this job yeah I mean honestly the the How has the transition been so far transition's been pretty smooth other than a chaotic December M like it was a quick process I got hired in three days first day on campus we got 10 offensive starters in a transfer portal and half the defense now they didn't tell me that I wouldn't have either but 3 weeks later we got 22 new guys a lot of All Conference guys a bunch of two threee starters with good production numbers I felt like we flipped the roster in December and then January start your winter conditioning my strength and conditioning guys's been with me six years and not total trust you know I got a defensive coordinator been with me 10 but not as a coordinator the whole time offense nine same deal so winter smooth new standard made progress spring new offense defense special teams and also the standards and how we practice right because it's different by the fifth practice it felt like a normal practice and we continued to make progress you bring seven more guys in in the transfer portal at the end of spring six on defense and have had a good summer and now we got to take a big step here in August uh as every team does I mean I like our team I have confidence in our team we're not there yet but nobody's there yet cuz especially nowadays with all the new faces you got I tell you what spring opponent study try try to do that now you have no idea who's playing for who yeah but um August will be important yeah uh it's Finding the right balance in recruiting interesting because you talk about the the the portal and losing guys and gaining guys but it's you got to find that balance too of okay let's get some guys in here that that can play it'll start off fresh with us and then also get on to recruiting and try to develop that base and develop guys that way you know that's that's tough right well yeah the high school guys those are the foundation of the house right and then the portal guys are immediate need and then maybe if you're short on Juniors or sophomores at a certain position you go portal on a guy that's got two to three years left but usually you go portal you're looking for a guy and Comm in start so I'm I'm curious because I mean I think it's your personality I mean you very outspoken very confident in your initial introduction as the As a head coach you know your comments about Purdue in Ohio State and Michigan uh and that you win you know but but I and so I know that you're a confident guy did you feel like you had to like set that Tempo a little bit for the guys that are there because they obviously guys are there are pretty beat down right yeah I had to Setting the tempo ramp it up a little bit I mean if you look at my past that those you wouldn't see those kind of comments I remember Jim Jim Trestle making a comment about beating Michigan when he took the iate job now I just took it up a few decb but you know it's the entertainment business too they throw you out there in front of 17,000 people man you got to get them fired up so what's done is done um but I think I had to come in with a little confidence and swag because you're right I mean a society so short term people forget three seasons ago I use a touchdown for winning the Big 10 yeah touchdown away three years ago three seasons now it's an impossible job give me a break so yeah I I like the progress we've made now we got put on the field yeah um Curtis roor is one of the guys that came in a new player a guy who's you know like in today's college football these quarterbacks go in the portal they got a lot of reps in the bank you know a lot of game experience what what do you expect to see out of him means a lot you know helps you sleep easier at night our last four quarterbacks have all been Player of the Year in the league they were all different you know from the true duel to the true pocket and in between and they all had their Skeptics rook's been a Player of the Year okay probably more of a pocket guy but can run for a first down get you back to Second and 10 make the throws knows how to play quarterback um so had a good spring had a great summer looking for him to take another step here in August and uh have a lot of confidence in him take D Jackson improved as well yeah um so one Players and coaches of the things obviously great success at your last stop at James Madison several guys players from that program are with you now at Indiana how many coaches also so I mean a lot of a that is with you now right I think we have 28 individuals from James Madison in the organization 13 players and 15 coaches weight coaches quality control guys and it helps and the players really help because they're coming from a championship culture yeah and it helps facilitate the Improvement you're looking to make in your culture right and then the coaches you know they know how you do things because I've got some new coaches but in terms of the guys that have the big responsibility those guys have been with me a while kind of interesting too just that you know you're you're at Indiana University in Bloomington but you for a lot of years were at Indiana University in Pennsylvania how ironic or interesting is that yeah and that's where you know my dad won a lot of games after he left West Virginia um and I spent a little bit of time there myself so uh you know we'd have to bring Sigman Freud back and see de down whether that played a role or not oh um what do you feel right now are the Challenges biggest challenges ahead of you as you try to make progress in August to get to where you want to be making as much progress as possible every day in August Camp stringing together good days and as much progress as possible in consistency and performance dependability accountability and the other intangibles that go into winning football games and winning close football games because we've always won close football games and when you look at the scores across the Big 10 take Michigan out of the mix and maybe Oregon uh you look at all the ones score games out there IU last year lost five I'm counting Penn State which was tied with about two and a half to go um you got to win those games and those intangibles that's my job to develop those intangibles in the team what are Winning close games some of those intangibles you think to to win those kind of games you know playing one play at a time uh really buying into that six seconds a play or plays got a life in the history of its own you start that in practice so at the end of the game games online you're just doing your thing because 11 guys doing their job you know it's not addition it's multiplication you know and let the other team kind of you know at the end of those games and win those close games I mean handling success handling failure not only like did we win or lose but like during a game yeah right like we're down our first Sun Belt game after App State beat A&M we go on the road very first Sun Belt game we're down 283 second quarter not a single guy Flinch no anxiety no frustration come back win the game you know how how we going to respond we're 10 points down I know how they responded last year how how are we going to respond and how do you handle success you know and now you're staking out complacency so there's a lot of things going to it yeah what would you find uh or what have Surprises you found maybe the most surprising since you've gotten to bloom team maybe you weren't expecting or the most pleasant surprise that you found you know we've built some new facilities that are pretty nice and and we're we're we're adding right we're reinvesting I love the town love the campus the people are unbeliev able and the commitment from the president and athletic director Pam Whit and Scott Dolson I mean they wanted to go so uh I think it's all lined up my wife loves Bloomington which as you know is important and uh so it's been all pluses that's great um last thing is just and Big Ten expansion you know you're new to the league as well but uh you're familiar with the big 10 and you've been in this part of the country most of your life but what about these four new teams and how the the league is expanding Ed what what are your thoughts about that I I think it just makes the league that much better you know I think it's great it's exciting it's a new trajectory I mean you look at the history of USC and some of those guys that played there back in the day right UCLA Oregon's been really strong Washington I mean Washington Michigan played for National Championship so yeah I know that you're going to have to get on a plane for an extra hour but so what and uh you know it's created a a a super conference with great potential I would also think you know it seems like even when uh and all all the way back to when Penn State joined the Big 10 how all of a sudden now that opened up Pennsylvania as a recruiting place for some of these other teams in Big 10 now there's there's new recruiting bases for for the teams that are in the midwest right you're exactly right and vice versa like you know we we saw Washington in here you know recruiting and and the others so yeah I mean it's it's a national conference that uh can go anywhere to get a really good player yeah