It was a day that set off a memorable stream of remarks that have become part of the lexicon in Bloomington.
“Purdue sucks.” A Big Ten championship game prediction. “Google me.” It all started when IU’s new coach got off the plane for the first time at Indiana.
IU football coach Curt Cignetti told the story of his first day at Indiana on Dec. 1, 2023.
This is an excerpt from Cignetti’s speech at the American Football Coaches Association following the 2024 season. You can watch the full speech below.
The full speech is an insightful look at the upbringing, career and coaching philosophy that has led to Indiana’s historic 13-0 season.
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“Okay, now this is when that story begins,” Cignetti said of his arrival on day one at IU. “So, we get to Bloomington. It’s a rainy day. Get there, pull up to the football building. They got this Hoosiers banner on the side of the stadium. It looks like it was put up there in 1950, you know? I mean, we are crimson and cream, right? We’re crimson like Alabama. And this Hoosiers sign looks like it’s pink. It’s been up there so long. You know what I mean? It’s long. It goes from one end of the stadium to the other.
“So, uh, walk inside. Go to get on the elevator and this elevator rug, man. We get in there and it is dirty and it’s old and I’m like to the AD. I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’ And then we get up to the offices, right? It’s like walking into 1970. I I’m like, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ And you got understand, we had nice stuff at JMU. We had nice stuff at Elon. And we’re used to winning, right? So, I go in my office and this is a nice big office, but the desk I wasn’t real fond of and he heard about that too.
“And then I got to have my first team meeting and we got like eight or nine guys not at the team meeting. Got nobody checking roll to see who’s there and who isn’t. Everybody, they’re all slumped down in their chair like this. Man, am I livid by that point.
“Now I got to go up to Indianapolis, right? Talk to the Big Ten channel cuz we got we got two universes colliding right now. We got win a championship every year and we got this doom gloom can’t get it done impossible. Two worlds colliding. And I wasn’t going to lower my expectation levels. That wasn’t how it was going to go down.
“So, we go up to Indianapolis. All right. The guys (assistant coaches) call me halfway up there. Said, ‘Coach, we went downstairs, they got a bunch of new stuff. It’s really nice. Players locker room, weight room, nutrition area, training table, all that stuff.’ I’m like, ‘Thank God.’ Okay. We get in there. I’m talking to the three talking heads from the Big Ten. They’re nice, very nice. But you could just tell they’re looking at you like, ‘Man, you got an impossible job.’
“So finally at the end I said ‘Well it’s a good thing I came up here and did this interview because we’re going to be back playing in this game next year.’ You know they thought I was crazy but we usually did play in the championship game, alright? So few more things then we have the basketball game that night. By that time I’m livid and I have felt just this doom and gloom hopelessness right around the athletic facility.
“So, 17,000 people, basketball game, I got to walk out there, say hello. You know, I’m the new sucker here. Uh, no, that’s not how it went down. And some of you guys know how it went down, right? (that’s when Cignetti made his famous “Purdue sucks” statement).”
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