One of college football’s all-time great coaches says he’s never seen anything like it.
From 2012 to 2018 leading Ohio State, Urban Meyer was 7-0 against Indiana, and that was no great accomplishment. It was expected. The Buckeyes racked up 30 straight wins over IU from 1988 to 2024.
Meyer knows as well as anyone, Indiana is supposed to be the game on the Big Ten schedule that gives you a chance to catch your breath. It was the homecoming game, and an opportunity for the backups to play in the second half. It’s just the way it has been — since forever — as the Hoosiers amassed more than 700 losses all-time.
So how did we go from that Indiana to 2025 national champion Indiana?
There’s only one way Meyer can explain it.
“I’m almost 62,” Meyer said on the Triple Option Podcast. “Over 40 years around college football. That’s the greatest coaching job I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.”
“What he (Curt Cignetti) and his staff, and it’s not just him, he has two coordinators who have been with him for nine years. Pete Carroll went through it, Nick Saban went through it, I went through it. It’s when you start losing your coaches. Because those guys should be head coaches.”
“What they’ve done, (offensive coordinator) Mike Shanahan and then Bryant Haynes, the defense coordinator, who by the way worked for me at Ohio State, those guys, what they did, I’m telling you, the best coaching job I’ve seen.”
Part of Cignetti’s leadership genius has been retaining Shanahan and Haines. Since arriving at IU, Cignetti has received multiple new contracts with significant pay raises. And each step along the way, he has made sure his coordinators were among the highest-paid in college football. Shanahan and Haines would have to take significant pay cuts to take head coaching positions at levels below Power Four.
They’ll eventually leave, but for now, Cignetti has the exact same coordinator/positional coaching staff he arrived with in Bloomington.
And fueled by that continuity, the turnaround couldn’t be more dramatic.
Indiana was 9-27 in the three years prior to Cignetti’s arrival, 27-2 in the two years since. In their 16-0 2025 season, Cignetti and his staff snapped the 30-game losing streak to Ohio State, and won IU’s first national championship.
In 2025, the Hoosiers went from three postseason wins all-time in program history, to four in one season. They went from 6-116-1 all-time vs. the AP Top-10 to 6-0 in 2025.
They completed the first 16-0 season since 1894. They outscored their opponents by nearly 500 points, 666-187, against what ended up being the No. 10 strength of schedule in the nation.
And the markers for great coaching are there. All the little details that make the difference between good and great can be found.
Indiana was No. 1 in the nation in turnover margin in 2025. They did not lose a fumble over their final 1,047 offensive plays and 15 games, only losing a fumble in the first quarter of the season opener.
They were No. 2 in least penalty yards per game.
They were No. 1 in kicks/punts blocked.
They were No. 1 in third down conversions, No. 8 in opponent third down conversions.
They were No. 8 in red zone offense scoring percentage, No. 2 in opposing touchdown percentage in the red zone.
As Cignetti might say, that’s pretty good.
Some are saying it’s the best ever.
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