IU football coach Curt Cignetti was named the Big Ten’s 2024 Coach of the Year by both the coaches and the media, the league announced on Tuesday.
Cignetti led the Hoosiers to an 11-1 season, the most wins in program history. Indiana was predicted to finish towards the bottom of the Big Ten by virtually every national outlet.
IU improved from 3-9 a year ago, one of the biggest turnarounds in FBS history.
The honor marks the fourth time in his career that he earned coach of the year accolades from the conference office, doing so once at each of his previous stops. He was the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2012, the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 2017 and Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2023.
He is the third Indiana head coach to win the Big Ten Coach of the Year award, with Tom Allen (2020) and Bill Mallory (1986) each winning both awards, while Mallory was also selected as the media’s coach of the year in 1987.
On the short list for nearly every national coach of the year honors, Cignetti has engineered an eight-game improvement from Indiana’s 2023 to 2024 seasons. That number currently sits tied for the second-best improvement by a first-year head coach since at least 1996.
Cignetti was the first-ever Division I head coach to start 8-0 or better in consecutive seasons at different institutions. He led James Madison to a 10-0 mark to start the 2023 season and pushed Indiana to an identical mark to begin the 2024 slate.
The 11 victories in 2024 mark the first double-digit win season in Hoosier history. Likewise, the eight wins in Big Ten play are the most by an IU team since joining the conference in 1900.
He is the only Indiana head coach to start a season at least 4-0 and joined the select group of Big Ten coaches that started their Big Ten tenures with 10-0 overall records in the AP Poll Era (since 1936): Ryan Day (Ohio State, 2018-19), Urban Meyer (Ohio State, 2012), Earle Bruce (Ohio State, 1979), Bennie Oosterbaan (Michigan, 1948-49) and Carroll Widdoes (Ohio State, 1944-45).
Cignetti inked a contract extension during the Hoosiers’ Week 12 bye week. He agreed to an eight-year contract with an average annual compensation of $8 million through 2032.
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