BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — People across the country have marveled at what Curt Cignetti has done during his two years at Indiana. The success is mind-boggling, and some call it the greatest turnaround in college football history, the worst program in the game suddenly ranked No. 1.

When Cignetti was hired in December of 2023, the Hoosiers had lost games than any football program in the country. He was replacing Tom Allen, who had gone 3-24 in the Big Ten over his last three years. But with a renewed commitment from Indiana to be good at football, Cignetti was handed the keys to a new car, and the program was infused with millions of dollars of investment in coaching salaries, player NIL funds and improved resources on campus.

All Cignetti has done was set a school record in 2024, winning 11 games and making the College Football Playoff. He's topped it this year, going 13-0 — Indiana's first undefeated season in nearly 130 years of football — and winning the Big Ten outright for the first time in 80 years. They are the No. 1 seed in this year's 12-team tourney and play No. 9 seed Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

There may not be anyone who has a greater appreciation for what Cignetti has done at Indiana than current Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. He has a similar small-school background like Cignetti, but even more so, he spent a year in Bloomington in 2019 and knows what Indiana football is all about. He's paid attention to this meteoric rise — and is incredibly impressed. 

“Just knowing Coach Cignetti and his path, I have nothing but respect for how he’s done it, and how he's gotten to this spot,'' DeBoer said Monday during a Rose Bowl press conference. “We understand we've got a great football team with Indiana. Coach Cignetti, just what he's done is amazing here these last two years, just building the program as quickly as he's done to the level it's at.

"I do pay attention, just because it’s a place I’ve been, so I do pay a little more attention.''

But first, a little Indiana history

A decade ago, former Indiana athletic director Fred Glass was well aware of what was going on around him in the college football world. TV contacts were exploding into billion-dollar deals, and as a member of the Big Ten, it was critical to invest those dollars wisely.

Indiana had always been horrible in football. They won a Big Ten title in 1945, and shared another one in 1967. That was it. The Hoosiers' goal was usually to just get enough wins to play in a bowl game. They often failed.  They've only played in 13 ever, only won three.

Glass knew a financial investment had to be made in football. It started with facilities, making improvements to Memorial Stadium, with first-class locker room and training areas. And when Allen needed an offensive coordinator, he stressed how critical it was to hire DeBoer, then an unknown offensive genius who cut his teeth in the lowest divisions of the game and had worked his way up to Fresno State's offensive coordinator. 

Indiana needed to spend more money on football, Allen argued. DeBoer was his choice, and it was seconded by defensive assistant Kane Wommack, who knew DeBoer and loved his creativity.

DeBoer got hired, getting a contract for $800,000, the most Indiana had ever paid for an assistant coach — at the time. They went 8-4 in 2019, and DeBoer's offense, led by quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr and Peyton Ramsey, averaged 433 yards a game, third-best in the Big Ten.

Indiana winning eight games was a huge deal. It had been 25 years since Indiana had won eight games, in 1994 under Bill Mallory. There had only been three eight-win seasons between 1967 and 1994, and none between the 1945 and 1967 title seasons. From Indiana's debut season in 1887 to 1945, they won eight games only once, in 1905.

So Indiana obviously felt they were on to something with DeBoer and Wommack as their coordinators. But DeBoer was wowed back to Fresno State to be their head coach, and left Indiana after just one season. Wommack left a year later after the Hoosiers' brilliant 6-2 COVID season in 2020 to be the head coach at South Alabama, and Indiana was never the same.

Allen did a horrible job of replacing them, making one bad coaching hire after another. Indiana was a combined 14-5 in the regular season in 2019-20, and then 9-27 the next three years, with just three Big Ten wins. Allen was out, and Cignetti was hired.

But DeBoer saw that early investment in football at Indiana, and now it's exploded now under Cignetti. They have one of the highest-paid coaching staffs in the country, and NIL dollars flow onto Indiana's roster at a rate that compares with many of the richest programs in the game.  

"We're always worried about your own place and where you're at, but I've watched what's gone on at Indiana,'' DeBoer said. "I felt like when we were there, there was a growth, an investment that was happening, and there was success in '19. When I was there, it felt like you were getting over the hump and that extended into the next season as well.

"But certainly, coach Cignetti has done a great job providing the spark, which really leads to people continuing to be all in. As you get more people all in, you get the moments that you're in right now. So, I think it works off of each other, the energy, and the commitment to the success, working hand in hand with the people that are there.

"I had nothing but a great time there. It was short-lived, but one that I remember, and my family as well.''

Indiana ties run deep at Alabama

DeBoer spent two years at Fresno State, went 12-6 and made a bowl game in 2021. A year later, he was hired at Washington, and one of his first phone calls was to Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr.  They got very close in their year together, but Penix had four straight season-ending injuries at Indiana.

He needed a fresh start, and joined DeBoer in Washington. He stayed healthy there and threw for more than 9,000 yards while playing every game in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Huskies went undefeated in 2023 and lost to Michigan in the national championship game. Penix was the No. 9 overall pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the 2024 NFL Draft, and DeBoer's phone was ringing again, too.

DeBoer was hired by Alabama after that great Washington run. His first phone call there was to Wommack, and he hired him away from South Alabama to be his defensive coordinator with the Crimson Tide. Nick Sheridan, who coached with DeBoer and both Indiana and Washington, came with them, too.

David Ballou, considered one of the best strength and conditioning experts in the game, was already at Alabama when DeBoer arrived, but they worked at Indiana together too during his one year. Ballou, who was hired by Nick Saban, is an Indiana native and IU alum.

So it's a big Indiana-to-Alabama connection, especially with Wommack, his trusted defensive coordinator.

“Here’s what I saw when I was there. He wanted me to come and be a part of it, and when I was there, he did everything he could to be a team player,'' DeBoer said of Wommack. "Practice plans, schedules, whatever it was, he would be willing to work with you to do what’s best for the team, not just his side of the ball.

“And there’s production, and a style of coaching that fits as a defensive coordinator (in hiring him at Alabama.) Especially down with his home here in the Southeast, what he could bring as far as familiarity to the league and the region, it was a great fit.  He’s a great person, a great coach and a great family man.  Our players really believe in him. Our staff does, too, as he manages them.

“He was a big part of me coming there in trying to get me to Indiana and I’m glad he returned the favor when I called as well.’’