Many longtime fans of IU Athletics believe they see common traits in legendary basketball coach Bob Knight and current football coach Curt Cignetti.
There may be good reasons for that.
Indiana Director of Athletics Scott Dolson bridges Knight and Cignetti in a unique way. He was a basketball manager under Knight in the late 80s including part of the program’s last national title in 1987, and Dolson of course hired Cignetti in 2023.
When Dolson had his first conversation with Cignetti during the hiring process, something the now head coach of IU football said triggered memories of a story Dolson has heard about Knight.
“At the end of the conversation (with Cignetti) I thought about Coach Knight a little bit,” Dolson said on the Sideline Stories podcast with Tricia Whitaker and Sydney Parrish.
“I’d heard that people asked Coach Knight when he took the Indiana job, why did you go to Indiana, and he said ‘Because I can win there.’
“And I’m on the phone with Coach Cig, and we hit it off, and we talked about a lot of stuff and he’s just the way he is, and then at the very end I said ‘I really enjoyed our conversation and I want to talk to you more, but do you think you can win here?’
“And he (Cignetti) said ‘Scott let me just tell you this, if I just have average resources, I will win there, trust me.'”
Watch the full podcast episode below, as Dolson shares stories on his hiring of IU basketball coach Darian DeVries, the genesis of the latest version of the bison mascot, and much more:
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