Video, Quotes: Scott Dolson talks IU football, basketball in BTN interview

Indiana Athletic Director Scott Dolson sat down with Rick Pizzo of BTN earlier this year at the Big Ten meetings.

Pizzo and Dolson discussed the football program’s national championship, Curt Cignetti, the first year of the Darian DeVries era, the future of IU basketball, CFP and NCAA tournament expansion and more.

Watch the full interview below and read a transcript of Dolson’s quotes:

On when he first thought a national championship might be possible in the hiring process of Cignetti:

“Well, it is interesting you ask that, because back at the very beginning, my very first phone call with Curt Cignetti, I remember it so well, and he said to me, or I said to him, it was a great conversation, and I won’t go into all the details, but at the end, I said to him, I said, ‘Curt, it’s been a great conversation, I’d like to continue this.’ I said, ‘do you think you could win here? And I’d just like to know, people said it’s gonna be tough to win here, do you think you could really win?’

“And he said, ‘Scott, let me tell you this, if I have average resources, I absolutely 100% will win there, trust me.’ And I remember hanging up from that phone call, and I called our president, Pam Whitten, who was so instrumental in all this, I remember saying to her, man, this guy’s different. It just felt so different, and we clicked, there was all the things that are important to us, that’s important to him, and I remember just talking to her, and feeling like, you know, I think anything is possible.

“So I’d say back to that moment was a key moment that felt like this wasn’t just a normal situation.”

On if there was a moment this past season when it changed in his mind from it being possible to win a title to believing there was a very good chance of winning it:

“Yeah, I think the game at Penn State, when we came back and won with that unbelievable drive, I remember distinctly right after that win, being on the field, and Coach Cignetti, and I remember him looking at me and just saying, ‘wow, that was, that was incredible.’ You know, he’s been around a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of games too, but I felt from him that that may have been a real inflection point, that wow, that was a really tough comeback, odds were all stacked against us.

“So, you know, if there was a point in time where I felt like maybe this was going to be a super special season, it was on the field after that game.”

On how the 2025 football season stacks up historically:

“Yeah, from my perspective, and again, I’m a homer, right, because it’s our team, but at the same time, I do think it’s unique, and I think that is the word, because when I spoke with Curt, he said the exact same thing.”

On Cignetti saying he wouldn’t be at IU without Dolson and Whitten:

“Yeah, and again, for me, you know, I’ll say the exact same thing. If it weren’t for Pam, for President Whitten, there’s no question we wouldn’t have won the National Championship, and it all starts with her, her support, her vision and that alignment. Sometimes that word could be overused a little bit, but in this case, it absolutely can’t be, because again, we’re all together. We’re on the same page, and again, it sounds so corny and cliché, and does that mean other schools aren’t? You know, I’m sure there are other schools that certainly are, but we just have this way we all work together. We’re kind of wired the same, really committed to the same things, and so when you feel that connectiveness, connectivity, it really, the results are the results, and it all starts with her, and certainly Coach Cig just giving him the ability to do what he does.”

On balancing worrying about other sports and also enjoying the national championship:

“You’re so right, because honestly, on the airplane flying back from Miami, I remember having a long conversation with Curt about next season, and really turning the page, and because that’s the way you have to do that, but at the same time, you know, we have had moments just enjoying it with our players and our fans.

“In a way, sometimes I catch myself not enjoying it too much, because I don’t want to get complacent. I don’t want our department to get complacent. I don’t want anyone to feel like we’re the smartest people in the room, we’ve got this whole thing figured out, because it’s all fleeting, right, and we can get humbled pretty quickly on this, and so we really do spend a lot of time, and it’s back to alignment between Pam, Curt, and I, that we really aren’t drinking our own bathwater. You know, we don’t sit around thinking we’re the greatest thing to ever come into administrative or leadership or coaching. We really think we’ve got a lot of work to do, and so it’s kind of a long answer. We’ve enjoyed it a little bit, but probably at some point we’ll look back and it’ll really soak in.”

On Tony Pettiti and the future of the CFP:

“I’ve been very, very fortunate to be around great leaders in my career and really learned from them, and I put Tony right up there with them, and I was fortunate also that I was the chair of the Big Ten ADs when he took over. So I’ve kind of had a front row seat to see him work, and I think his vision for postseason, his vision for the entire conference is awesome, but the vision for postseason and really making certain that we can have high quality regular season games, build content for everyone across the board is really the way to go, and so hopefully we can all come together sooner than later.

“There’s a lot of moving parts out there, but I do feel, I know in our room, there’s a real unification among our 18 ADs, our 18 schools, to really head in that direction, and we feel that’s the best, not just for us, but for college football.”

On the first year of the Darian DeVries having some good moments and also struggles:

“Year one was exactly as you kind of described it. I think we put the foundation in. You know, certainly we all have, including Darian and I, probably more than anyone, the highest of expectations for our program, and when you fall short at the end, you know, it is disappointing, but at the same time, we’ve got a foundation, a blueprint, just like we do with football, and really with all of our sports, and I think Darian really did a good job of assembling the staff, evaluating throughout the year what are our needs.

“We added a GM towards the end of the year, which was a big move for us. I think going into year two, it almost feels like year one, to be honest with you, because year one, in reality, was such a quick turnaround, and it sounds like an excuse, and I don’t mean for it to, but it was a little bit of a challenge with the portal, as crazy as it was to get things solidified, and I feel like now we’ve got a firm foundation to build on, and I’m super confident about the future.”

On NCAA tournament expansion:

“I’ve been kind of ambivalent on that. It’s funny. I haven’t really been passionate one way or another, because I focus so much on our own program and we want to earn our way every year.

“Part of it is that you never want to take for granted making an NCAA tournament, but you also want it to be an achievement that’s something that your program really strives to do, and then once you get in there, then certainly you can make noise and advance, so I’ve really focused so much on our own program that whatever the outcome is and where it ends up, and obviously with expansion, we’ve just got to play that card the best we can, and still, it comes down to us controlling what we can control.”

On making sure that the Olympic sport athletes continue to enjoy their experience in the NIL era:

“I’m so glad you asked that, because I talk all the time about maintaining balance, and what I mean by that is we can never lose sight of what we’re all about, and we want to modernize our department, modernize our conference, do all the things as we’re going through this transformational time, but we’re really built on broad-based programming, we’re built on making certain that we maximize the opportunity for all of our student-athletes in every way, academically, athletically, personally, and sometimes because of the business, the way it’s growing, and I’m not even saying that in a negative way, but that business can be somewhat of a distraction away from what our foundation really is, and I say it as I meet with recruits and their families a lot, we don’t want to be transactional, we don’t want to just be kind of the come in, it’s an auction, we’ll buy players, you come in, you leave, and so understanding that balance and making certain that we talk about it, we recognize that, we know what we’re all about, is really critical for us, and honestly, we just don’t want to be a part of a situation where it’s not about that balance, it’s about all of our sports, and we’re super proud of that.”

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