…doesn’t yet have a realistic view of what it is going to take to be competitive in the B10. He’s filling this roster out with a bunch of former JMU and other Sun Belt level athletes. His arrogance could be leading him to believe that it won’t matter. There may be a sobering, reality check in store for us this fall….
I fear that Cignetti…
- Thread starter gator mcCluskey
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I think the sobering reality he's already experiencing. It's tough getting the very best players when you're Indiana, and the conference has Michigan. Penn State, Ohio State, and more. and another conference has 'Bama, Tennesse, LSU, Auburn and more.
I really doubt it has all that much to do with illusion. But the best players from Sun Belt should be OK for year one. His other early grabs such as Price and Rourke, and McCulley, and others clearly can play.
My worry is not as many of the subset of guys who can clearly play are on the defense.
I also worried about the same thing, an illusion out of arrogance. But this guy has coached way too many years for that to be much of a factor. So then I thought "what else was he supposed to do, year one?" He has a philosophy of type of character he wants, and production. Where else can he get that right now? He even thought McCulley was gone and called him and Rourke "a big day." So he knows players.
I really doubt it has all that much to do with illusion. But the best players from Sun Belt should be OK for year one. His other early grabs such as Price and Rourke, and McCulley, and others clearly can play.
My worry is not as many of the subset of guys who can clearly play are on the defense.
I also worried about the same thing, an illusion out of arrogance. But this guy has coached way too many years for that to be much of a factor. So then I thought "what else was he supposed to do, year one?" He has a philosophy of type of character he wants, and production. Where else can he get that right now? He even thought McCulley was gone and called him and Rourke "a big day." So he knows players.
I trust Coach Cig is making the best decisions for the program. He knows the talent level he inherited was mostly marginal and for 2024/2025 IU will have a better chance of winning 6 or more games with the proven transfers, especially the JMU guys and Roarke. My optimism makes me nervous, it is such an unnatural feeling for a long suffering IU football fan. Go Hoosiers!
Him and his staff are a huge upgrade from the previous staff so I think it will be pretty much a wash.
Maybe not as much talent across the board but with the schedule we have I think 7-8 wins is still a possibility.
Maybe not as much talent across the board but with the schedule we have I think 7-8 wins is still a possibility.
From what I saw of the Spring game schemes both offensively and defensively, and the way the schedule sets up this year, I think he’s going to be just fine. Produce a winning record and go bowling this year and the recruiting will come. Look at Allen’s class after the 6-2 Covid season. He got talent in the door, just couldn’t coach them.
Here is where I hold some positive solace. With only some moderately competent coaching and the corresponding correct and timely decisions IUFB would have owned 1-2-3 more W's last season. With 13 positive seasons prominently displayed in his sovereign room I believe we've reached that coaching level.
The coaching staff are getting the best players they can this year. Read the article on Ellison at RB and you see the difference with the players now than in the past. These players are determined to work very hard every day and games will show that this year.
This doesn't seem to be long term strategy. He wants to start fast and so he figures he needs a bunch of guys familiar with his system and expectations. I'd imagine he believes bringing in a core group that has been familiar with him for 3-4 years is a better recipe to get going fast than targeting a bunch of guys from all over that are new to the standards.
He was at Bama under Saban. He knows what the big boy conferences are like.
This years talent is an upgrade from last year. Cig and his staff is a major upgrade! Last years team with Cig & his staff would have won 5-7 games. This years schedule is easier than last years schedule.
We needed change. Coach Cig comes across as confident and I love it. We need a change in culture. I’m behind him until he proves himself wrong.
His connections with jmu and sun belt will fade as kids graduate so I don't think we will be getting this many transfers going forward.
He may also have promised any jmu player that had committed to him there that they will have a spot at iu.
These players are still div 1. There are plenty of reasons p5 programs may have overlooked them that don't point to lack of ability. Connections, lack of exposure, etc
He may also have promised any jmu player that had committed to him there that they will have a spot at iu.
These players are still div 1. There are plenty of reasons p5 programs may have overlooked them that don't point to lack of ability. Connections, lack of exposure, etc
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Ponds, the CB that just transferred would start for most Big teams. JMU was a top 25 team last year with a lot of talent.
Another intangible built in by Cignetti is the challenging competition these transfers are going to provide trying to show up their B1G counterparts. Gotta be a bit of a chip on their shoulder. It seems to me Cignetti has gotten with these transfers at least a 2for1 and very well could be 3for1.
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I hope it doesn't cause problems within the team. Hopefully there won't be resentment or accusations of favoritism for the JMU guys.
That's a pretty sizeable number of JMU guys on the team.
I'm tempering my expectations (in regard to our W total) with the reality that JMU only played 4 decent teams last Fall (Troy, S.Alabama, App. St. & A.F.) and lost to two of them (Air Force and Appalachian State)..., so that top 25 ranking may have been a bit of a mirage...
- Virginia had a really crummy team last Fall and and JMU barely beat them...-
Now you play the schedule you're dealt and they did well beating the teams they should have beaten but the narrative that they were somehow world beaters is simply overstated...
So..., based on that reality..., I'll be surprised if we do better than .500 this Fall if we're counting on all these JMU guys to carry the day... Hope I'm completely wrong and we Win em all...
- Virginia had a really crummy team last Fall and and JMU barely beat them...-
Now you play the schedule you're dealt and they did well beating the teams they should have beaten but the narrative that they were somehow world beaters is simply overstated...
So..., based on that reality..., I'll be surprised if we do better than .500 this Fall if we're counting on all these JMU guys to carry the day... Hope I'm completely wrong and we Win em all...
I believe there now 13 JMU transfers to Indiana. Fact is they'll all be contributing to our team.
Yes that article on Ellison was sweet.
https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2024/5/...-runs-to-help-bring-a-hoosier-turnaround-PETE
It has been clear, to me, that IUs talent had been underperforming … (perhaps) not working hard enough … (as opposed to being way overrated).
Getting guys willing to work hard should improve the culture. There is peer pressure in effort.
The App State loss was in OT and the Air Force loss was in the bowl game that was played without Cig - I'd have to give them a pass on that one.
I agree it's probably good to temper expectations, but I feel a lot better going into this year than I would if Allen were still coach.
I don't know, and I have nothing to confirm it, but I suspect some players on last year's team knew they were going to start, no matter what they did in practice.
I don't think that plays this year. I think there is going to be much more emphasis on practicing right and, if you don't, you're going to have a coach on your ass.
Yes and perhaps two years ago too. Anyone who hears such promises should look elsewhere … even if he needs them. That, and team discipline demands the best practice players should start … all things being equal.
At least there was (perhaps arguably) a first season strategy. Usually 1st year coaches try and survive depleted talent pools. Incoming talent is ranked higher than out going talent. Overall rankings are: 10 by Rivals, 20 by On3, 31 by 247. Not a HR perhaps: better than a SAC fly.
Can I settle for a little wrong and 9-4?
(I do agree … it’s likely a crap shoot … I wasn’t expecting as much roster improvement, as we have seen after the spring game).
Most these guys are one year rentals. Give me a bunch of 23-24 year old all-conference caliber players with chips on their shoulders over a 19 year old former 4* who transferred out at the first sign of adversity all day every day.
Hmmm????… vs getting the kind of HS, and more recently, portal talent that CTA was bringing in that was supposedly “upgraded” that still underperformed on the field?…many whom never met expectations, nor seemingly got better or coached up?? The ‘21-‘23 seasons had better talent than their collective results, I think most here agree on.
I’ll be patient knowing this guy (and his assistant coaches) actually have had some experience winning at a lower level. Low bar, I know, but his JMU team probably would have out-executed IU most Saturday’s last season. IU, who supposedly should have better talent.
Other than the WMU DL (can’t recall his name) JMF and Ryder Anderson (a good pass rusher, whom CTA had dropping into coverage 50% of the time for some strange reason) what exactly have most of the these other P5 transfers CTA acquired in recent years, do by transferring “down” to IU? Not a lot from a W/L standpoint at least.
I’m kind of excited getting experienced, winning guys with a chip on their shoulder, being coached by many of the same staff that knows them. And more than that, hopefully looking well coached out there.
Competing in the Big 10 has always been a difficult road for IU. It’s unrealistic to think IU will compete for recruits against OSU, UM and PSU…not gonna happen. Coach Mal bemoaned this when recruiting Ohio kids 35 years ago, while having beaten OSU in ‘88 and ‘87 by a combined 72-17. He still couldn’t get top tier Ohio kids to even listen. Our sights need to be a bit lower…Let’s start beating the likes of Iowa, Illinois, PU, MSU, Rutgers and Northwestern ON THE FIELD (instead of choking away late leads against them) and maybe that will result in some better recruiting results off the field.
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Cut down on stupid penalties last year and they win 2-3 more games. Add that to upgraded talent and I think 7-5 is very doable.
GoHoosiers
This guy is a football lifer & probably 50% of his family discussions have been about football. He is surrounded by an experienced Assistant Coaching staff including many with Big 10 experience, & he does not know what a Big Ten team looks like? The guy seems to always be pushing to get better. I have been following IU Football since the mid-70's & can't think of a HC who has taken charge of the program like this guy. He is always pushing to better & that is refreshing for IU football. Maybe this guy is a Special Teams stud. Who knows..
Don't really care who or if someone gets a case of the red ass cause their feelings feel bruised. The bench is the perfect solution for soothing problems do to feelings or hit the enter button on the portal website. I don't care. Cignetti could use the ride for a player with drive.
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So you do know that Allen is now at Penn State and many of his staff is now at Alabama? He did make one very, very big mistake and that was holding on to Hiller way too long which was his ultimate downfall.
That and putting a soft team on the field and losing a lot of games.
I would put bell in his list of mistakes.
On the bright side, might not have gotten bostad if we had fired hiller earlier
Bell could be a mistake. But like Sheridan is it fair to judge them with an inadequate offensive line coach? It is hard to have a very effective offense with out an offensive line.
But also having a couple of IU' s most successful seasons.
I don't think anyone questioned Allens ability to be a DC. All of us would take him as our DC any day so that is situational. Deboer and Wommack were great hires which led to a well-coached team. As for the others, do you feel like they've earned those spots through their achievements? Or does it feel more like Deboer hired a guy (Wommack) he knows he can leave alone to coach the defense while he then hires a yes-man as an OC who already knows what Deboer wants in the system so Deboer can focus on coaching that side of the ball? Meaning, those guys are just assistants to him being the real OC?
Hiller was a bad decision but so was Walt Bell, Charlton Warren, Nick Sheridan, Adam Henry, Chad Wilt....
Hiller was there when Kalen Deboer installed an offense and Deboer didn't seem to have a problem with that OL. Sheridan even had the ability to learn greatly from Deboer and yet still failed.
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Some might argue having 2 excellent coordinators had more to do with our success. Of course, Allen was responsible for those hires but he couldn't find replacements that were anywhere near as good.
Allen appears to make for a better coordinator than head coach. It would be interesting where we would be if we somehow managed to have DeBoer as head coach instead of Allen.
I too wander if bringing all of these non- Power 5 kids is prudent or not. The one thing that I can tell you is that sometimes kids that should be Power5 kids do slip through the cracks. And a kid that is all-conference in a smaller conference is quite probably one of those kids. I also like bringing in kids that have actually produced at a high level on the collegiate level. I am going to be cautiously optimistic and am willing to wait and see. Also he did step into this years high school recruiting late. Hopefully he is able to eventually catch up.
Yes, but I think it was some time after Deboers departure that Hiller lost the o-line room. It was the Nebraska game after Frost had been fired that it was evident that the kids had completely shut down on Hiller.
