This should come as no surprise.
IU football coach Curt Cignetti is on the coldest seat in the Big Ten after winning the most games ever in an IU football season, and more than the three prior years combined.
CBS Sports’ annual college football coaches’ hot seat rankings were expanded this year, as each coach was given a job security score of 0 to 5. The scores were assigned by nine of the site’s college football analysts.
The average of those nine scores fell into one of these categories:
- 5 — Win or be fired
- 4-4.99 — Start improving now
- 3-3.99 — Pressure is mounting
- 2-2.99 — All good … for now
- 1-1.99 — Safe and secure
- 0-0.99 — Untouchable
Cignetti falls in the untouchable category.
Nationally, he was tied for the fourth least likely to be fired this season. He’s tied with Oregon’s Dan Lanning as the least likely to be fired coach in the Big Ten. Here are all of the Big Ten coaches’ scores:
Illinois: Bret Bielema, 0.78
Indiana: Curt Cignetti, 0.22
Iowa: Kirk Ferentz, 1.67
Maryland: Mike Locksley, 3.22
Michigan: Sherrone Moore, 2.22
Michigan State: Jonathan Smith, 1.78
Minnesota: P.J. Fleck, 1.78
Nebraska: Matt Rhule, 2.11
Northwestern: David Braun, 2.00
Ohio State: Ryan Day, 0.89
Oregon: Dan Lanning, 0.22
Penn State: James Franklin, 1.33
Purdue: Barry Odom, 1.00
Rutgers: Greg Schiano, 1.44
UCLA: Deshaun Foster, 2.56
USC: Lincoln Riley, 3.33
Washington: Jedd Fisch, 1.56
Wisconsin: Luke Fickell, 3.67
Meanwhile, PFF named Cignetti one of college football’s top-10 head coaches this week, placing the second-year IU coach in prestigious company.
Cignetti was tenth on the list. Here’s what PFF said about him:
10. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Cignetti was a relatively unknown commodity entering the season but is now a top-10 head coach in college football due to his magical year in Bloomington. In his first season at Indiana, the Hoosiers won 11 games and made the College Football Playoff. That was two wins more than Indiana’s previous program record, and it went just 9-27 in the three years before Cignetti took over. Before he took over there, he led James Madison to an incredible 19-4 record during its first two seasons as an FBS program. With plenty of star power returning, the Hoosiers have a chance to crash the playoff once again.
The nine coaches ahead of Cignetti include a former IU offensive coordinator. They are Kirby Smart (Georgia), Ryan Day (Ohio State), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Dan Lanning (Oregon), Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Kalen DeBoer (Alabama), James Franklin (Penn State) and Brian Kelly (LSU).
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