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    Curt Cignetti’s brand of entertainment is less intentional on gameday, but still quite fun

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football 6 Comments

    It didn’t take long for Curt Cignetti to endear himself to Indiana fans.

    Just days after he was hired, he took the mic at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and electrified the crowd.

    “Purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State,” he proclaimed to thunderous applause.

    It seems almost every time there’s a camera or microphone in front of Cignetti he does or says something memorable.

    What’s the vision you sell to recruits?

    “I win, Google me.”

    And what about that trip out to UCLA?

    “We’re going to an old stadium to kick someone’s ass.”

    And then Cignetti doubled down on Purdue sucks at Big Ten media day, calling the Boilermakers the “easy part” of the three teams he proclaimed sucked.

    “The first part (Purdue sucks) was easy,” Cignetti said of firing up the fans. “But then, why stop there and set the bar at 6-6? We’re going after these two (Michigan and Ohio State). We want to be the best. Like that thing I talked about with the kids. When you compete, you want to be the best.

    “You can’t have self-imposed limitations. ‘Oh, if we go to a bowl, it’s a great year.’ Bullshit. That ain’t the goal. The goal’s to be the best. And what you do is you commit to the process and do the things you have to do to be the best you can be, and then, see where you are at the end. You don’t bring the kids up, ‘Mary, I want you to be fifth-best today, 10th-best.’ No. You want them to be the best.”

    While he says he’s lost his filter, Cignetti knows exactly what he’s doing.  He said he knows the media is “waiting for me to say something crazy,” and he doesn’t seem to mind meeting those expectations, acknowledging he’s in the entertainment business.

    But what about gameday Cignetti?

    While it’s still entertainment, the dynamics are certainly different once the ball is in the air.

    But if this weekend is any indication, Cignetti is still going to make this a lot of fun on Saturdays, even if it’s a bit less intentional.

    Take his halftime interview with the Big Ten Network.

    What’s his message at the half to the team?

    Oh, okay.

    And then with less than four minutes remaining and Indiana clearly about to give Cignetti his first win as a Power Four head coach, the BTN cameras found him again.

    Cignetti gritted his teeth for at least ten seconds after an ostensibly meaningless holding penalty.

    He looked like he was down 30.

    Indiana’s own cameras found Cignetti again in the postgame locker room, as AD Scott Dolson presented him with the game ball.

    Cignetti let out some smiles this time.

    But he also seemed to realize as Dolson handed him the game ball, he wasn’t comfortable making it about himself in front of the team.

    And that produced another memorable Cignetti image.

    Before Dolson could get through his comments, it appeared Cignetti had already moved on to thinking about Western Illinois, the old stadium in California, and a few teams they’ll face in November that all suck.

    This is going to be fun.

    And like Cignetti says, this is the entertainment business, so it should be.

     

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    The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

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