It’s difficult to get college coaches to speak candidly on much of anything.
That’s why we like Athlon’s annual series where they get anonymous quotes from coaches from around the Big Ten containing candid thoughts about other programs in the league.
What do Big Ten football coaches think about Indiana and new head coach Curt Cignetti?
Here’s what Athlon compiled this year:
“There’s a lot of talk about the program for the first time since any of us can remember.”
“Cig [Curt Cignetti] is a really good hire; it shows that the school wants to be competitive and respectable in football. They’re taking football seriously in NIL, too.”
“They brought in a few studs from James Madison, and they’ve worked the portal well.”
“The competition level in this league is still above them, but they should look more talented, especially on offense. The MAC quarterback [Kurtis Rourke] is pretty solid.”
“If you’re setting reasonable Year 1 expectations, I’d look for them to build an offensive identity to help recruiting.”
To read anonymous quotes about Indiana’s nine Big Ten opponents for the 2024 season, go to the full Athlon story.
Of course the vibe around the program has completely changed over the last 12 months since the addition of Cignetti, who is 119-35 as a head coach, and never suffered a losing season.
Athlon ran the same series a year ago, leading up to what turned out to be Tom Allen’s final season in Bloomington. What did the coaches say about Indiana a year ago?
The quotes turned out to be pretty insightful:
“Probably the most uncertain program in the league going into the season. They have to win some big games to keep Tom [Allen] around, and that doesn’t look likely with the roster they’ve got.”
“Culturally, this is a hard place to win at, stay winning and make the ‘football’ changes needed to keep it going. Plus, Tom is a ‘bullhorn’ kind of coach, lots of hollering, and that as a trend seems to have waned a lot in recent years.”
“They were really high on Connor Bazelak last season, and now’s he at Bowling Green. That tells you a lot about the state of the program.”
“They’ve been working a lot in the portal and losing a lot too. That’s not a good sign.”
“They aren’t making enough noise in high school recruiting. If you’re going to stay consistent at a school like this, you can’t rely on the portal. You need to be a development system, and they haven’t pulled in enough talent to do that.”
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
