Media Days in larger conferences can grow monotonous over the course of the week, but new Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti spiced things up with several candid comments at his first Big Ten Media Days.
What did Cignetti say, and what are three things we learned from the new Indiana head coach?
What Did Curt Cignetti Say at Big Ten Media Days?
1) Cignetti is Confident
This seems simple enough, but Cignetti was extremely confident at the podium, preferring to raise expectations rather than temper them. Even though his Hoosiers were picked 17th out of 18 teams, Cignetti insisted his aspirations are much higher.
“I usually stand up at these things, and we’re picked to win the league (at James Madison),” Cignetti said. “Now we’re picked 17th out of 18 teams. I understand that.”
However, Cignetti continued by saying he’s been picked to finish second-to-last twice, and both times, his teams played for a conference championship that year.
Later, Cignetti went on to say that Indiana wants to be the best, then referenced the 2020 team that came “one score away” from a conference title berth.
It seems Cignetti is ready to win at Indiana, and he believes he can do it.
2) Cignetti Is Ready To Prove It On The Field
While Cignetti has embraced “talking season,” it’s clear he’s ready to get onto the field and prove it there. In fact, you could argue Cignetti thinks it’ll be easier to get people on board once the season starts.
“I understand we got to put it on the field,” Cignetti said. “We got to put it on the field. But nothing gets people excited like winning.”
Cignetti has spearheaded a diplomatic PR campaign of sorts in an effort to get the Hoosier fanbase on board and excited about the upcoming season.
At some point, though, talk is talk and nothing more. To truly win over the fan base, Cignetti needs to prove it on the field. He looks ready to do that.
3) Cignetti Has No Regrets About His Aggression in the Transfer Portal
The Transfer Portal has come up in just about every Media Day press conference across the country so far, and while most coaches gave boilerplate answers, a few were a bit more authentic.
In fact, Cignetti was completely candid about his approach to flipping the roster through the portal, including a Deion Sanders-like flippancy to retaining players from the previous year’s team.
“I knew when we came in when we started interviewing the old players that we needed a lot of new faces,” Cignetti said. “Fortunately, they did me a favor by leaving.”
Wow.
Cignetti and his staff brought in 31 transfers in December in one of the sport’s biggest single-year overhauls ever.
Not only is Cignetti unapologetic with his approach, he thinks it could be the reason his team can compete in 2024.
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