Is Curt Cignetti The Best Coach In America?
Coach Cig is SMOKING hot right now!
Earlier Saturday, the Illinois Fighting Illini had a balls-of-steel, "bring your own guts" win against the USC Trojans.
The offense looked dangerous, the defense made stops when they needed to, and Bret Bielema called a nearly perfect game in terms of when to be aggressive and when to be conservative.
It was a nice rebound win over a top-25 program with way more talent on their team than Illinois.
And the Indiana Hoosiers and their head coach, Curt Cignetti, absolutely smashed that same Illinois team just a week earlier.
The Hoosiers beat a top-10 team 63-10 last week, and the narrative surrounding that win was "Illinois was overrated! They're frauds."
I think this week's win over USC showed that, not only are the Illini a legitimate contender in the Big Ten, the Indiana Hoosiers are exponentially better than anyone gave them credit for just seven days earlier.
And the argument that Illinois was asleep at the wheel is complete BS.
That's a rivalry game between two ranked conference opponents. I refuse to believe Bielema didn't have his guys ready to play that one.
It's time to accept the fact that Curt Cignetti is the best coach in America, and it's not close.
Sure, other teams are more talented, but when it comes to performance relative to the profile of player on the team, no one gets more with less than Cignetti.
As if having a 53-point win over a top-10 team wasn't enough of a feather in his cap, Cignetti was able to avoid a classic trap game at Kinnick Stadium against a very defensive-minded Iowa squad.
I'm sure Cignetti is very happy in Bloomington, but if the Hoosiers have another ten-win season in 2025, it will be hard to imagine every program in America that is in need of a new head coach not busting down the door ready to pay his buyout.
I don't know what the future holds for Cignetti, but if I were a betting man, I would wager the field over Indiana when it comes to coach Cig's home in 2026.
Enjoy him while you can, Hoosier fans.
A coach like Curt Cignetti comes around once in a lifetime and turns the fortunes of your program around.
Get everything out of this experience you can, because it goes by quickly.