About a minute and a half after James Franklin was fired by Penn State, the speculation began:

Will Curt Cignetti, a Pennsylvania guy who speaks fluent Yinzer, be pursued by PSU and will he have any interest in the job?

In the old days, when Penn State was a powerhouse and IU was a stepping-stone job at best and a coach's graveyard at worst, I would have said yes and yes. Back before the portal and NIL, Penn State was one of the nation's elite, both competitively and financially, far richer than most of its conference counterparts. The Big Ten isn't known for poaching coaches from within the conference ranks, but I'd have to think Penn State would have shown serious interest in Cignetti, and Cignetti would have shown serious interest in them. 

Now, though, that's all changed. Cignetti makes roughly the same salary at IU that Franklin made at Penn State. Penn State has deep pockets, but, then, so does IU now that they've made a major investment in a sport that used to be an afterthought. Cignetti, coach of the third-ranked Hoosiers, can win and he can win big in Bloomington. He's 17-2 in his first 19 games at IU and has a reasonable chance of getting through the regular season undefeated. 

When NIL and the portal came along, a lot of us thought it would create a chasm between the haves and the have-nots, that the teams with the most cash to spend would render smaller programs insignificant. Turns out, that's not how it's worked out at all. If anything, it's given schools like IU, Vanderbilt, Memphis and others a chance to secure more good players than they've ever had before. Consider Fernando Mendoza, among the top quarterbacks in the portal. He turned down several more prominent programs to attend IU, and now he's the lead man in the running for the Heisman Trophy. 

But back to the elemental question: If Penn State came calling -- and we don't know if they will or not -- would Cignetti be interested?

Years ago, I would have said yes. But now? No. Why would he when the finances are roughly the same? He's proven in less than two years that you can win a Big Ten championship -- or hell, even a national championship -- in lovely Bloomington, Ind. There might be some lure with Cignetti being a Western Pennsylvania guy, but I can't imagine him making that move to Happy Valley. If Cignetti stays in Bloomington, he will retire a legend. They'll build a statue, just like they did of Bob Knight. 

Don't mess with happy, I always say. I don't always listen to my own advice, but Cignetti has it good, even great, in Bloomington. Turns out IU football was, in fact, a sleeping giant. It just needed a brilliant coach to wake it from its century-long slumber.  

So let the speculation continue. 

Curt Cignetti, I'm saying, is here to stay.