Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti made his feelings toward the top football program clear on ESPN's “College Gameday” Friday before his team took off against Notre Dame.
“We didn't just beat the top 25 teams, we beat the top teams,” he said during a panel discussion in South Bend, Indiana, before the first game of the revamped College Football Playoff.
Cininetti's trash talk drew laughter from other members of the group, including Nick Saban, who hired the Hoosier coach as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator during his first season at Alabama in 2007.
Cinetti said he learned a lot from Saban during his four seasons with him, but the former Crimson Tide coach said everything the brash coach does is similar to Saban. I made it clear that it was not.
“One thing you didn't learn from me is to say everything you say,” Saban responded.
Cininetti's brash words don't always go down well with opposing teams, with top-25 ranked Ohio State trolling the IU coach after a November game that was the Hoosiers' only loss of the season. .
However, Cignetti earned high praise throughout his college coaching career, developing future NFL players such as Julio Jones and Mark Ingram II during his time at Alabama from 2007 to 2010.
Cininetti ultimately left Alabama after being hired for his first head coaching job at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
After five years with a 53-17 record at IUP, Cignetti took the starting DI job at Elon University and led Elon University to the FCS playoffs in his first season in 2017.
After four years at James Madison, Cignetti accepted the Hoosiers job in November 2023 to replace Tom Allen.
He led the team to a record start of 10-0 in the 2024 season and finished the year with an 11-1 record.
Last month, Indiana signed Cignetti to a new eight-year contract with an annual salary of $8 million.
Indiana will face the Fighting Irish in the first round of the CFP on Friday, the first time the two have met since 1991.
