Is IU football coach Curt Cignetti the best coach at the Power 4 level of college football?
That’s what a panel of 10 voters at CBS Sports determined this week with that outlet’s annual ranking of all 68 Power 4 coaches.
And who could blame them?
After Cignetti led Indiana to one of the most historic seasons in college football history, there’s little doubt he’s at or near the top.
But if rankings like this had any real meaning, they would have had Cignetti at or near the top when he arrived in Bloomington.
After all, when Cignetti was hired by Indiana, he had led James Madison to an 11-1 season and a top-25 ranking not long after he led JMU through its transition into the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Sun Belt Conference.
He arrived at IU having never suffered a losing season as a head coach despite taking on several highly challenging situations. You may have heard — he wins.
So did the CBS Sports panel have the wisdom to put Cignetti near the top ahead of his first season at IU?
Uh, no.
In May of 2024, CBS said Cignetti was just the No. 43 Power 4 coach (out of 68). Here’s what they said:
43 Indiana, Curt Cignetti: Only one coach new to the Power Four starts ranked higher than Cignetti, but we’ll have more on him later. The 2024 season will be Cignetti’s first at this level, but he’s had plenty of experience and success at stops along the way. Between his time at IUP, Elon and James Madison, the 62-year-old Cignetti is 119-35 in his career with four conference titles. He had James Madison appear in the AP Top 25 in each of the last two seasons (the program’s first two seasons at the FBS level), and Indiana hopes his successful approach to building a program brings consistency to its program.
CBS ranked Cignetti behind two fellow Big Ten newcomers — Washington’s Jedd Fisch (31) and Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith (27). Smith has already been fired.
And that other new Power 4 coach who debuted above Cignetti in 2024? That was Houston’s Willie Fritz at No. 26, who has gone just 14-11 in two seasons.
So surely after Indiana’s magical 11-2 season that saw the Hoosiers shatter program records as they amassed more wins than the previous three years combined, the esteemed CBS Sports panel saw the light.
Right?
Well, not really.
Here’s what they said in 2025:
21. Indiana, Curt Cignetti: Wow, it only took my prediction one more coach to prove correct. I’m a genius! Nobody was quite sure what to make of Cignetti when he took the Indiana job. Yes, he’d brought success to James Madison, but he was talking a lot of smack for somebody who was about to take over at Indiana. It’s not exactly a program with a storied football tradition, but none of it mattered. The Hoosiers were the story of the 2024 season, coming out of nowhere to reach the playoff. Nobody is taking them lightly anymore.
It seems ironic that the excerpt from CBS’ 2025 preseason rankings says nobody is taking IU lightly anymore, while ranking Cignetti No. 21 (i.e. not even in the top 25% of Power 4 coaches). Whispers: I think you took him lightly. Someone on the panel actually ranked Cignetti No. 61!
All Cignetti did in 2025 was beat five coaches ranked above him, including Oregon’s Dan Lanning twice. His chance two beat a sixth was lost when Penn State fired James Franklin.
So now, after all that — two College Football Playoff appearances, a 16-0 season, a national title, the nation’s longest home winning streak, and on and on — yes, the CBS Sports panel had no choice but to put Cignetti at the top in 2026.
Here’s what they said this time around.
1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Google him, and you’ll now see “CBSSports’ No. 1 coach” come up in the results. Well, assuming Google still even shows search results anymore, anyway. Curt Cignetti has taken college football by storm. He’s done the seemingly impossible by turning Indiana into a national champion in only two seasons. It’s not simply that he did it, either, but how he did it. He went on the road and beat Oregon during the regular season. He beat No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. He crushed Alabama by 35 in the Rose Bowl and followed it up with a 34-point win over Oregon in the Peach Bowl. Then he took down a Miami team that was peaking at the right time in the postseason. Cignetti and the Hoosiers overcame every obstacle in their path, often obliterating it beyond recognition and did something nobody could’ve dreamed of only three seasons ago. If he can do that, how can any of us be surprised to see him No. 1 here too?
They’ve seen the light.
We’re not trying to pick on CBS Sports here, but rather just add some perspective.
This annual effort to rank college football’s coaches is fun offseason content. But much like the AP top-25, it’s also highly reactionary and replete with brand bias rather than something that truly identifies the best coaches.
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