I know everyone is saying college football has changed. That Indiana has shown the new future where anyone can win. I saw a headline sayng this was the Supreme Court's National Championship due to the NIL ruling. I don't believe any of it. I think in 10 years or so, we'll look back and see this as an outlier where a near senior-citizen coach with a massive chip on his shoulder and a roster of players who had been mostly overlooked out of high school found a QB with the same mentality, and they were the perfect pairing. But we probably won't see this level of success from Indiana or similar programs again anytime soon. Cignetti is a very good coach, so I think Indiana will continue to be a good team under him, but as far as the national title, the stars aligned here in a way I don't think they will again. I think you're more likely to see blue bloods or near blue bloods succeed the way they always have once they figure out NIL and roster construction.
Cignetti and Fernando
- Thread starter IANit
- Start date
Sheriff Coffee
Well-known member
Kid is a winner. Killed it on late night tv
Bum.
IMO, there will be different winners, but not all "blue bloods". Some rich ones maybe if they can discover the secret sauce, like TAMU (heaven forbid) and Oregon as examples. And the QB will always be the key.
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The Spin Meister
Well-known member
It is said that Mellencamp had been supporting IU football for years. In return, they built a shack on top of the stadium so he can chain smoke the whole game!
The Spin Meister
Well-known member
Mendoza Madness is getting out of control
The Spin Meister
Well-known member
I am not so sure. Certainly they hit two home runs with Cignetti and Mendoza. And they succeeded in evaluating good talent across the board.
IU succeeded because Mark Cuban, Mellencamp and others pitched in huge amounts of money. And they found over looked talent.
Mkney is going to become more dominant. Schools with a couple very deep pocketed alums will be willing to stop truckloads of cash into their schools.
Imagine some Silicon Valley tycoons pumping Stanford or Cal. USC or UCLA. from Hollywood superstars. Of course, Oregon. SMU.
The template has been set. Only a matter of time for the next big booster or group of boosters to step up.
marylovesthelions
Well-known member
8 PLAYERS OUT OF 100 WERE 4 STAR PLAYERS. Best coaching job in any sport in the history of sports. It wasn't the money, it was CIGNETI and his staff.
A great coaching job, for sure. Not sure I agree with the best coaching job in the history of sports. What Indiana showed is that top players from a great group of 5 team can be competitive in the power conferences like the Big Ten. Pair them with some good portal pick-ups who are proven players, some existing talent, and a transcendent quarterback (bought and paid for, mind you) in a down year for the sport, and you have something. There really wasn't a great team this year other than Indiana. I don't think that Ohio State or Oregon were as good as last year. Michigan was down. Texas and Penn State struggled compared to expectations. The SEC mostly sucked by normal standards. Notre Dame had a couple of early losses that knocked them out, which I think was a break for Indiana. Miami was really good up front, but had a couple of regular- season stumbles and made mistakes on special teams in the championship. I still think 83 Miami beating the juggernaut team lead by Mike Rozier and Turner Gill, or 86 Penn State rank up there as top coaching jobs. Or Jimmy V.'s 83 NC State team winning the NCAA tournament. And Cignetti doesn't come close to either Cael Sanderson or Dan Gable in terms of sustained greatness relative to the rest of the sport. I stick by the belief that Cignetti probably won't have a season like this again. He may get close, but I'll be surprised if he wins another. In 1979, Miami considered dropping football entirely or going to I-AA. They rose to be the team of the 80s with the first championship under Howard Schnellenberger. A lot was made of the 3-9 the year before, but while Indiana didn't have good records under Tom Allen, his teams always played with toughness and never quit. They just didn't have enough talent.
Sheriff Coffee
Well-known member
TOSU just hired billionaire Smith (former Steelers OC) (fedex money) he’s worth over $5b
His late father was worth over $5b. I think he had a second wife, and there were 10 kids. I'm sure he got something, but he's defintely not worth $5b alone.
LionDeNittany
Well-known member
Indiana doesn't have the financial resources of other schools and what Cignetti did was show the design of how to win with NIL.
His setup will be copied by programs with a lot more money, and Indiana will move back towards the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.
That being said, this is a Big Bang moment in College Football and Cignetti started it.
1. HS Recruiting is almost meaningless.
2. 24 years old > 18 years old
3. $10M coaches are pointless as there's no longer a bag man.
4. GMs will be the new norm (and this isn't a Cignetti thing, just it's obvious)
5. Historical powers that had large stadiums, and a lot of local talent are finished.
LdN
LionDeNittany
Well-known member
I'd argue the opposite of what you're trying to argue.
This was one of the most competitive seasons ever in CFB.
A lot of teams were excellent, and they all beat one another.
So teams like Penn State and Texas are finished?
LionDeNittany
Well-known member
Texas has more money than maybe any other school in the country next to a Michigan or Stanford.
The Spin Meister
Well-known member
Probably only a mere $500 mil.
Just shocked they hired him as he wasn’t impressive as the Steelers OC.
Glad he is gone.
There really wasn't a great team outside of Indiana this year. Indiana wasn't recognized heading into the season. It wasn't great due to overwhelming high-end talent. Just very solid play everywhere, very few mistakes, a winning attitude from the coaching staff, and a fantastic QB. The teams that looked best on paper heading into the year (Texas, Penn State, Clemson) disappointed. The teams that stepped into their poll positions besides Indiana were probably a year early (Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia) with first-year starting QBs. Most of the other teams that had a realistic shot were really good on offense (Ole Miss) or defense (Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech), but not complete teams. Then you had teams that got in on the basis of early-season wins (resume) rather than what they were at the end of the year (Alabama). Most years, you have a couple of unbeatens heading into the post-season. Maybe this year will be the new normal as teams aren't able to stockpile talent due to NIL.
I thought he had his moments. He was a decent OC at Tennessee, but anybody would probably look like a competent OC with prime Derrick Henry as their running back.Probably only a mere $500 mil.
Just shocked they hired him as he wasn’t impressive as the Steelers OC.
Glad he is gone.
I guess I'm not sure what you meant by #5 above when you said the teams with 100,000 stadiums and mostly local talent are done. There are 8 teams with stadiums over 100,000 - Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, LSU, Tennessee, Texas, and Alabama. I'd say Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama have all recruited nationally for quite a while now. LSU has a lot of nearby talent, but still goes national as needed. Penn State, the Texas schools, and Tennessee do get some national recruits, but I think of them as more regional traditionally with a focus on in-state and nearby talent. All seem to be competitive, and I don't see that changing. How they build rosters will change, perhaps.