It’s good to be the king, and for now, the Indiana Hoosiers are the kings of college football.
It still sounds weird, doesn’t it? The Hoosiers had established themselves as a top program on the basketball court in the late 70s and early 80s under Bob Knight, but the football program has seemingly always been a bottom feeder.
That all changed when Curt Cignetti took over the program in November 2023.
The man who first became famous in college football for his “Google me” catchphrase is now famous across the sports world as a whole for leading Indiana to an undefeated season, a Big Ten championship, and the College Football Playoff national championship last season.
Throw in the fact that Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won t`he Heisman Trophy and then went No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, and it was undoubtedly the storybook season for the Hoosiers.
Can Cignetti keep the fire lit in Bloomington now that he’s gotten the Hoosiers up the mountain? That will be one of the big questions in college football in 2026, but in the here and now, the job he did at Indiana last season has earned him ESPN’s distinction as the top coach in college football.
Cignetti beat out Georgia Bulldogs‘ head coach Kirby Smart, who was the runaway favorite for ESPN’s reporter panel in 2024 and 2025.
“It takes a special coach to wrangle all the forces at a blueblood the way Kirby Smart has at Georgia while dominating the SEC. If it were easy, everyone who has had one of those jobs could do it. But we’ve never seen anything like what Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana, taking the losingest program in college football history to a national title in two years, after an 11-1 season at James Madison in 2023,” wrote ESPN’s Dave Wilson.
Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is the best coach in college football
Smart, for the first time in several seasons, showed up at No. 2 in the rankings, but even the reporter who argued for him to be No. 1, Max Olsen, didn’t have much of an argument against Cignetti.
“Cignetti has pulled off an absolute miracle in his two years at Indiana, and I have no issue with him sitting on the throne in these rankings,” wrote Olsen.
Consider the following things, which put into perspective just how much of a godsend Cignetti has been for Indiana:
Indiana suffered 125 seasons without Cignetti as its head coach since 1899, and the Hoosiers never won 10 games in that stretch.
The Hoosiers won 11 in his first season and 16 in his second.
En route to the CFP title, the Hoosiers beat No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten championship, No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl, No. 5 Oregon in the Peach Bowl and No. 10 Miami in the national championship.
As far as lore is concerned, winning it all at Indiana is already legendary enough. Doing so by beating the Buckeyes, Crimson Tide, Ducks, and Hurricanes is next-level stuff, though.
Again, it remains to be seen if Cignetti can keep up the momentum at Indiana, but he’s a hard coach to bet against.
“It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”
