Quotes: Everything Curt Cignetti said at his Big Ten media day press conference

• Alex Bozich

• 16m ago

 

IU football coach Curt Cignetti addressed the media on Thursday afternoon at Big Ten media day in Chicago, Illinois.

You can watch the full press conference here.

Here’s a full transcript of everything Cignetti said in his media day press conference:

Opening statement:

“Thank you. End of Big Ten Media Day. Everybody ready to get out of here and get home? Guess not. Yep. It’s great to be up here today on two feet and still be on the roster, year 44, and really looking forward to this season, anxious to get to camp.

“First of all, I’d like to thank Tony Petitti for his tremendous leadership in the Big Ten. He is a great leader, navigating this conference through some difficult times and continuing to grow and build the brand. I’d like to also thank Pam Whitten and Scott Dolson, our president and athletic director, who have been behind us lock, stock, and barrel, committed 100%.

“You know, I formed a relationship with President Whitten and Scott in about 48 hours and had to make a decision on whether to take this job, but had such a strong feeling about both of them. We decided to make the move. And as everybody knows, nothing great happens without commitment from the top.

“So I’d also like to thank our fans who have grown and multiplied and turned out record numbers for the college football playoff. We probably had 75 percent of the people out there for the Rose Bowl, about 95 percent for the Peach Bowl. And for the National Championship on the opponent’s home field, we probably had about 60 percent there. So we probably can’t expand the stadium soon enough, but those kinds of things take time. I thought we took some necessary steps forward last season in year two. We beat six top 10 teams, beat the number one ranked team, number two, number two, number three, number eight, number nine, six top 10 wins.

“I think the Oregon game on the road was the first against a top five team on the road ever. We also had five fourth quarter wins, four on the road. When you look at Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, and I don’t know, maybe Miami was the other one.

“But it’s a great conference. Got a lot of respect for the head coaches and the programs in this conference. There’s great coaches top to bottom and a lot of programs getting better.

“So I’m anxious to get to camp. We had a good spring, but when you play 16 games, you come out of a season like that, you have some post-season surgeries, you’ve got some new portal guys that show up that had work done at their prior institution. So I’m really anxious to get the team together for the first time and develop them.

“I think we have a lot of nice pieces. I think we excel at development and create the intangibles once we get closer to the season. As a staff, it’s extremely beneficial. The staff continuity that I have had that President Whitten and Scott Dolson make possible, we’re on the same page. They know the blueprint, the process, the plan. And what it really does, to be honest with you, and we’re always still trying to get better, we’re trying to improve the way we do things, is those downtimes can really be downtimes for the coaches, which they like their quality of life with me, as I think the players do too with the way we practice.

“All I can say is, going into this season, I know I’m going to get asked some questions. We’re very process-driven. Our focus is on the things you have to do in the here and now to improve as much as possible. To improve as much as possible today, those types of things. We don’t talk about product results. We don’t talk about championships, playoffs, national championships, those sorts of things.

“I’m a firm believer in our blueprint. Our Monday morning meeting will be very similar to what it was eight years ago. It’ll be about an hour long. There’s certain things we’ll do in there. There’s certain things I’ll say in the team meeting, Tuesday night, that I said eight years ago. It’s not word for word, but it’s pretty damn close. Okay? And the way we practice, pretty similar to what we did eight years ago. So, we have a way of doing things.

“We got guys that have been together, and all we do is win. And we have a good culture downstairs. I’m going to get asked about the JMU guys. All the guys that have been with us for two years, that were at Indiana my first year, they’re the JMU guys. Okay? We’ve had a lot of nice pieces in the portal. I think we got a chance to develop. But you know, the season is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. A marathon. And you got to be able to handle success, failure, stay relatively healthy, even though when you look at it last year, we lost our two defensive ends, right? Wyatt was playing great football, so was Daley.

“And we had guys step up, step in, and still be successful. So, I’m really excited. I’ve been on vacation long enough.
You know, I’m tired of being bossed around by my wife. I’m ready to boss somebody else around and develop a football team. And it’s all about development. Okay? Player development, team development, positional development, and developing the intangibles, the mindset, and the identity of your football team. Questions?

On a potential jersey patch with the Google logo:

“Is it going to make us better? Then I’m not interested.”

On similarities and differences between Fernando Mendoza and Josh Hoover:

“They both played quarterback. They were both starting quarterbacks where they came from. Josh Hoover has won a lot of football games, thrown for a lot of yards, a lot of touchdown passes.

“He has an innate ability to play the position of quarterback, kind of a natural passer, very accurate, processes very quickly. I think the things we’ll ask him to do are different than the things TCU asked him to do. We’re not going to put the ball in his hand and say, go out and win the game and outscore people. We’re going to give him a run game of defense and special teams. And every once in a while, on third down, a punt’s a positive play.

“Fernando Mendoza was a little taller. He may have had a little bit of a stronger arm, but he was probably more raw fundamentally and just playing the position of quarterback, still learning. The thing I’ll say about Fernando only is from a preparation standpoint, he did everything within the realm of possibility to become the best he could be. And I think what separated Fernando was when the game was on the line, those fourth quarter wins, the last three minutes, four minutes, that’s when he played his best football. He was a tremendous competitor. So I’m really anxious to see Josh and the progress he’s made in practice starting on Wednesday in fall camp. All the one-year quarterbacks had followed the same line and I expect him to as well. And I think this team’s got a lot of nice pieces.

On players holding themselves accountable to the standard at IU:

“Well, I mean, that’s culture, that’s leadership. And that’s where having guys that have been in the program, been successful, that have strong character or smart helps. I like to recruit good players that are smart and have strong character because you can do a lot with guys like that.

“And I think a part of the key of the drill is getting everybody to think alike. And that’s where my messaging is important and upholding a standard and having accountability. But look, you got to have the right people in place.
You got to have a process and people in place. And we have the right people in place, upstairs and downstairs. I feel very strongly about that.

“So I’ll be stalking complacency. I know that question’s coming, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”

On the transfers getting acclimated to the program and Nick Marsh adjusting to being at IU:

“Yeah, I really like our transfer class. I think we did extremely well and under tough circumstances where we’re playing deep into the playoffs. I think we filled some critical needs.

“I think Nick Marsh is a proven two-year player at wide receiver, been very productive. I think you’re probably talking about the gold shoes the first day of practice. Maybe we don’t do that where I coach, all right? And he got the message and he’s been great. He’s had a great summer and I’m expecting big things from him.

“And I’m expecting all the transfers really, when they step on the field in training camp, to be a lot better than they were in spring because it’s their second time through it.

On how this team will be different than the last two seasons:

“I mean, it’s different people. So it’s going to be a little bit of a different team, but it’s going to be more sane than different. I mean, all of our teams have been successful because they’re more similar than different, right?
We don’t turn it over. We play smart. All three phases play off each other. Stop the run. We run the ball. We’re good in the red area. Touchdown percentage, third and fourth down percentage.

“And those are things I want to continue to do. The faces just changed a little bit and the tweaks, probably the average fan doesn’t notice the tweaks, to be honest with you, which were things that we do that we think will give our players the best chance schematically.

“But the schematic part of it is really overrated. Blocking, tackling, running, throwing, and catching is the key to the drill. So we’ve got to create the identity, the mindset, the relentlessness, the resiliency. And we’ve got 17 new transfers, which is about par for the course across college football right now, and further indoctrinate them into how we do things.”

On maintaining culture in the NIL era with players being paid:

“Well, you know, the guys that earn NIL, let’s say they earn a big number. They’ve earned that number. Nothing’s given. Everything’s earned, not given. So they’ve earned it based on their production. And if they’re highly productive, that means they probably want to be a great player. Well, I’ve never known a great player that didn’t want coached, right? And to be the very best you can be, sometimes you’ve got to take a guy out of his comfort zone for him to improve as much as possible. So I don’t know.

“Some people might call it old school, but, you know, we’re very demanding to a standard, but everything we ask of our guys is reasonable and fair. And I think they view it that way too. I think they like the way we take care of them in terms of time on the field and banging and clanging and things like that.

“But look, what separated last year’s team from the other really good teams I had was their day in, day out consistency. They stack meetings. They stack practices. They went into every game with the right mindset and respect for the challenge. And then they put it between the white lines and did the things that we emphasize. And you’ve heard my mantra before, okay? The consistency part. So if I have a guy that consistently cannot do his best, cannot be on time, cannot rub off positively on others, is uncoachable. He’s not going to be in my program, right? He’s not going to be in my program. And the guys that are really productive, they get paid. They get paid. And so we’ve tried to adjust, improvise, and navigate those kind of unpredictable waters for the last few years. And I think we’ve done okay.”

On whether the grind of the Big Ten schedule is a net positive or net negative by the end of the season:

“I think that’s a loaded question. I think your job as a head coach and the assistants is to equip your roster, make it as strong as possible with adequate depth at every position throughout the team. When you play that many games, you’re going to get some guys dinged and injured, things happen, next man up mentality.

“The Big Ten is the best league in football, and a lot of really good football teams. It’s hard to win on the road, very physical football teams, very well coached. It definitely prepares you for the playoffs. There’s no doubt about it. The numbers speak for themselves. We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest.

“We believe everything’s earned, not given. When we fall short, we say we fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”

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