"Greatest Sports Stories Of All Time": Indiana Is No Longer Just A Basketball School, Just Google Them

MIAMI BEACH — Curt Cignetti sat at a podium in a room filled with the smell of cigars wafting through the air conditioning vents. He'd already consumed his one post-game beer to celebrate Indiana's college football playoff title win over Miami. 

Fernando Mendoza walked by the Hoosiers marching band on the way back to the field for an interview with the Big Ten network, riling up the saxophone and trumpet players with a hand in the air as he navigated his way through the chaos. Indiana players danced on the field inside Hard Rock Stadium to music being blared over the loudspeakers, as fans wearing Crimson celebrated in the stands for over an hour after the CFP trophy presentation. 

READ: Couldn't Write This Script In Hollywood: Indiana Defies Logic To Win CFP Title Behind Fernando Mendoza

We arrived at this point just over two years after  Cignetti sat at another podium, this time in Bloomington, telling people that if they wanted to know what he could do with the Hoosiers, just Google him. 

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JANUARY 19: Head coach Curt Cignetti of the Indiana Hoosiers hoists the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy after defeating the Miami Hurricanes 27-21 in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19, 2026 in Miami Gardens, Florida.  (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

The disappointment in 2024 only drove this Indiana team to get better, with a point to prove that last season was not a fluke, and that they could finish their own story. Cignetti brought up the TCU team that lost to Georgia in 2022, who came up short in their goal of defying the odds of winning a title. 

What did Monday night mean in the grand scheme of things?

"It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time," Cignetti said. "But it's all because of these guys and the staff."  

He's right, this is one of the best stories to ever play out in athletics, based on where this football program was just two years ago, sitting near the bottom of the Big Ten and looking for some sort of magic pill in this new era of college athletics. 

"Are there eight first-round draft choices on this team? Probably not. No, there aren't," Cignetti said." But this team, the whole, was greater than the sum of its parts."

A rags-to-riches story. The underdog finding a way to defeat a former giant in college football. There are many ways to describe what we witnessed this season from Indiana, but replicating it will be hard to do. Not that there won't be another team who goes undefeated in the regular season, we've already seen that. 

And while this is the first team to do it in this modern era, we only expanded the playoffs to twelve teams just two years ago. 

Indiana's Story Is One That Will Be Remembered

It's how they did it in such a short period of time. That's the takeaway, in this era of college athletics where championship hope lies within the insane amount of money spent on one-year rentals. Essentially, Indiana put together a roster filled with zero five-star players, and did not spend the money like you see at other schools right now. 

That certainly doesn't mean Indiana hasn't already spent a lot of money on the transfer portal to put together a roster for next season, or retain guys who might be looking elsewhere over the next five days. 

" I would like to say our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is, so you can throw that out," Cignetti mentioned in his opening remarks. 

But, the past two seasons, we've seen Indiana make headway in the Big Ten without spending nearly as much as its colleagues at Michigan, Ohio State or even Penn State. 

And yes, that will certainly change moving forward thanks to this national championship and a bevy of supporters like Mark Cuban ready to help even further. 

This year, Indiana proved you can spend under $20 million on a roster and win a title. And, they did it with a group of veteran starters, with fifteen of them having already played over three years of college football. You have probably read about the starting quarterbacks in college football making anywhere between $5 to $7 million for a single season of action. 

Fernando Mendoza barely cracked the $2 million mark when he transferred to Indiana from the Cal Bears. 

In reality, this was a group of gritty football players that bought into Cignetti's strategy, with an emphasis on growing as a team, not just a simple mindset of cashing in on their talent. 

"I think we sent a message, first of all, to society that if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard, and you've got the right people, anything's possible," Cignetti mentioned. "In our particular situation in the athletic world, college football has changed quite a bit. The balance of power, also."

What's Next For The Hoosiers In Their Quest To Stay On Top?

It's simple, get back to work this week on building a team for the 2026 season. Remind you of anyone in particular, with their postgame plans? 

"We're going to enjoy this moment, take a day off tomorrow, get back at it Wednesday," Cignetti said. "A lot of these guys will be gone. I'll miss them. Hope I can stay connected to them throughout the rest of their lives and put the '26 team together.

Moving forward, Indiana has the ability to continue thriving, while others in the Big Ten look to dethrone them. Can they do it? Sure, even if this season felt like all the pieces came together for a magical run. 

Two years ago, if I had told you Indiana was going to beat Miami for a national championship inside the Hurricanes' own stadium, you would have probably told me to quit my day job. Heck, I didn’t think it could happen, and if someone outside the Indiana football building told you they did, I promise you they would be putting their own spin on history.

Because of that, it's good that Cignetti does not care for the outside narrative that surrounded his program prior to this season. 

"What the outside public thinks, we don't control. It's a great story, tremendous story. Most people would tell you that are in the know," Cignetti said. "It's probably one of the greatest stories of all time in terms of a team that most people — we got it done."

Folks will talk about this team long after we are all gone. Stories will be told, folklore will live on. On Monday night in Miami, Indiana put its own stamp on the history books in emphatic fashion. 

"I know Indiana's football history has been pretty poor with some good years sprinkled in there," Cignetti said. "It was because there wasn't an emphasis on football, plain and simple. Basketball school. Coach Knight had great teams. The emphasis is on football. It's on basketball, too. But you've got to be good in football nowadays."

Don't worry, Curt Cignetti. We believe you now. If people don't, I guess they can just google you.