Indiana Hoosiers' head coach Curt Cignetti continues to exceed expectations, and it earned him The Associated Press Coach of the Year honor.
The Indiana Hoosiers are the only unbeaten team in college football with a 13-0 record that includes their first Big Ten title since 1967. The football program has seen new heights under head coach Curt Cignetti, who left the JMU Dukes to take over the program in 2024. He turned what was the losingest team in the sport into a new powerhouse with a 24-2 record over two seasons and consecutive bids in the College Football Playoff – this season as the No. 1 seed.
That resume led to history made by The Associated Press. Cignetti was named the AP Coach of the Year in college football for a second consecutive year – making him the first repeat winner since the award began annually in 1998. He is among elite company that includes Brian Kelly, Gary Patterson and Nick Saban as now the fourth coach to win it twice.
Here is the fully story from Hoosiers Roundtable Tom Brew on the historic achievement for Cignetti.
Cignetti is also the coach of Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first player in program history to ever win the award. Mendoza is also the AP Player of the Year. It was an overwhelming margin of victory for Cignetti, who received 47 of the 52 first-place votes. Texas Tech's Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt's Clark Lea received two each, and Tony Elliott received one.
His impact with the program has simply been monumental. The Hoosiers had never won more than nine games in a season. They have double-digits wins in both seasons under Cignetti and went undefeated in the regular season for the first time in school history. Indiana finally snapped a 30-game losing streak to the Ohio State Buckeyes and will look to reach more milestones in their consecutive CFP bid. They will face off in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2026, against the winner of No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners and No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide.