Inside the special moment Indiana’s Curt Cignetti will never forget originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
ATLANTA – On Thursday morning ahead of the Peach Bowl coaches press conference at the College Football Hall of Fame, Curt Cignetti enjoyed a quiet moment he will never forget.
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Cignetti reached out to the Hall and asked if he could arrive early and see where his father was honored. Frank Cignetti Sr. was enshrined in 2013, but Curt did not make it for the induction. He was in his third season coaching the program his dad built into a Division 2 superpower – Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It was only training camp, but if you know anything about Curt Cignetti, he’s not going to miss a football practice.
Twelve years later, Curt had yet to visit the building that overlooks Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta. So when he found out the pregame media event would be there, he made arrangements to see the tribute to the person who inspired him on his coaching journey.
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Cignetti declined to let the Big Ten Network tag along, preferring to experience the moment without cameras. According to someone who joined him on the tour, he was animated on the elevator up to the third floor, where he was escorted into the rotunda where visitors can pull up the members of the Hall on oversized touch screens.
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He watched a 54-second video, saw photos (both color and black and white) and looked over the biography of the man who won 199 games during a career that stretched for four years at West Virginia and 20 years at IUP. Frank Sr. won the PSAC 14 times, reached the D2 playoffs 13 times and advanced to the Final Four six times. The Indians won the Lambert Cup 10 times as the top D2 team in the Eastern part of the U.S.
When it was time to go, Cignetti gave a fist-bump to the touch-screen and said, ‘Good to see you, buddy.”
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Curt spent his final three years of high school in Morgantown while his dad was head coach at West Virginia, and was a reserve freshman quarterback in his father’s final season there. When Frank was fired, Curt remained and finished out a four-year career at WVU as a reserve.
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He finished his career 0-1 passing with no other statistics.
Downstairs at the College Football Hall of Fame, when asked about what he learned from his father at the press conference, Curt had plenty to say.
“I learned so much from my dad, you know. I don’t even know where to start,” he said. “He was a great leader, and he led by example, and he was a role model. He was a strong man. He had a little John Wayne and Clint Eastwood in him.
“I get letters, and I read things on social media about all the people he helped at West Virginia and at IUP, helped them in their lives.”
Manette Cignetti, Curt’s wife of 36 years, echoed those sentiments on the floor of Mercedes-Benz Stadium moments after Indiana routed Oregon 56-22 in the College Football Playoff semifinals
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“It’s amazing how many people we’ve run into that his father touched their lives that either coached with him or played for him,” Manette told The Sporting News. “Like here today, I probably had five people come up to me and tell me, you know, I was there. I was a player. I was a coach.”
Manette said Curt’s visit to the display made an impact on the normally stoic and intense coach.
“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “He was very touched. All of us are very proud that his father is there, and his father had the utmost influence on his life.”
Curt Cignetti
Cignetti said he knew in the third grade he wanted to be a coach.
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“He had a lot of pearls of wisdom,” Curt said.
Frank passed away in 2022 during Curt’s fourth year at James Madison. He never saw Curt’s ‘Google me’ press conference, the ‘Purdue sucks, and so does Michigan and Ohio State’ episode, and most importantly, two of the most remarkable seasons in college football history.
Cignetti stands one win away from completing the biggest turnaround not only in college football history, but North American sports history. A win over Miami will cap a 16-0 season during which the disciplined Hoosiers have gotten better and better. A 12-0 regular-season have been followed up with wins over Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon, the last two in dominating fashion.
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There is a good chance Curt will join his father in the College Hall of Fame some day, becoming the second father-son coaching duo with Jim Tressel (class of 2015) and his father Lee (1996). Cignetti is well-above the 10-year, .600 win percentage requirements, entering the national championship game at .796 over 15 years at IUP, Elon, James Madison and Indiana.
The guess here is he is not thinking about that right now, or anything other than Miami, which is partly how he got where he is in the first place.
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