Does Curt Cignetti Have A Future In The NFL? Nick Saban Weighs In

Not too long ago, it was easy to make fun of Curt Cignetti. 

When Cignetti took over the Indiana Hoosiers' head coaching job, expectations in Bloomington were low. The Hoosiers had consistently been one of the sport's most mediocre programs, with a disastrous run from 2021-2023. Under previous head coach Tom Allen, Indiana went 9-27, leading to Cignetti joining ahead of the 2024 season. 

Then he put down the gauntlet immediately, making news by saying confidently, "I win. Google me." 

Fast-forward two years and boy oh boy, was he right. Indiana made the College Football Playoff in Cignetti's first season, falling to Notre Dame. The Hoosiers immediately retooled, brought in a top transfer portal class, and turned into the best team in the sport. After an impressive shellacking of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl game, Cignetti somehow has the Hoosiers at 14-0 with wins over the Oregon Ducks, Ohio State Buckeyes, and the aforementioned demolition of Alabama. Beat the Ducks again in the Peach Bowl and they're in the National Championship Game. 

It's hard to imagine that anyone, possibly even Cignetti himself, expected to be at this point this quickly. One person who isn't surprised though? The best coach to ever coach in college football: Nick Saban. And Saban addressed whether he thinks Cignetti could soon bolt for the NFL, despite a lucrative contract extension.

Nick Saban during ESPN's College GameDay at Vanderbilt University on October 25, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carly Mackler/Getty Images)

Nick Saban Has High Praise For Curt Cignetti's Job At Indiana

On "The Pat McAfee Show," Saban was asked about the potential for Cignetti to leave for the NFL, and whether he'd have any interest in leaving Indiana. 

"I’ve never talked to Curt about going to the NFL," he said. "I don’t really know that he has any interest in doing that. I will say this, though, it is a fairly difficult transition to go from college to the NFL if you’ve never been in the NFL before."

Beyond his level of interest in coaching in the NFL, Saban also said Cignetti would have significant challenges, were he to go to the highest level without NFL experience. 

"When I took the Dolphins job, I had been in the NFL for six years prior to that. Four years as a coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, two in Houston as a secondary coach. So, I understood the NFL, but if you never coached in the NFL. I mean, developing players is not a lot different, but how you bring players to the team is tremendously different. I think you’ve got to have an organization that is vertically integrated from top down to be able to have success in the NFL," Saban said.

He continued by explaining how it differs from college, with the salary cap and the draft making talent acquisition a tough challenge if you're not familiar with the process.

"Because you have a lot more impediments in terms of competitive balance in the NFL. You’ve got a salary cap. You can’t draft whoever you want to draft. You’ve got to draft who’s available when you pick. So, sometimes that doesn’t work out. You’ve got to pay the right kind of guys on your roster and on your team. Then, you’ve got to develop a team chemistry that is a little bit different than working with college players."

Saban said he left the NFL in part because he realized how difficult it is to turn teams around if your hands are tied. "After two years in Miami, I said I can control my own destiny a lot better in college than I can in the NFL because here we have a team that I took over that’s 4-12, oldest team in the league, $17 million over the salary cap, and no draft picks because they gave them all up for Ricky Williams."

College football has changed, with the revenue sharing model and NIL deals making player evaluation and acquisition a full-time job. That's closer to the NFL model than it's ever been. Still, the recent track record of college coaches jumping to the NFL is extremely mixed. Jim Harbaugh has been a success with the Los Angeles Chargers, but Matt Rhule's tenure in Carolina was bad, to say the least. Even now, with multiple job openings across the league, there's little interest in hiring say, Kirby Smart. 

Cignetti's also already 64-years-old. For context, that would make him the second-oldest coach in the NFL behind just Andy Reid, who's 67. Doesn't seem like it's realistic for the league to take a chance on somebody with no NFL experience and at the tail end of his career. And yet just 18 months ago, it didn't seem realistic for Indiana to be two wins from a National Championship.