Curt Cignetti was so focused this offseason, he turned down all external requests: 'I'm 95% football'

Joel Klatt reacted to Indiana and Curt Cignetti winning the National Championship in Cignetti's second season as head coach.

The Indiana Hoosiers, out of nowhere, won the National Championship, finishing off an undefeated 2025-2026 season.

It’s not an understatement to say that it was one of the most surprising outcomes in modern college football history. A program that had little track record of success, more commonly viewed as one of the easy wins on a team’s schedule than a legitimate contender for major postseason accomplishments. It was a remarkable achievement. 

In fact, just before the regular season started, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said he thought undefeated teams were a thing of the past. Then Indiana goes 16-0. 

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You’d think after a season like that, the Hoosiers program, and especially head coach Curt Cignetti, would take some time to enjoy it. Bask in the glow, take some time off, do a sort of "victory lap" through the media, talking about what it meant. 

Well, Indiana and Cignetti did the opposite. The exact opposite. Because he’s a football guy first, and football guys think about one thing: more football.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti looks on during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2026. (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire)

ESPN spoke to Cignetti on the Indiana campus, where he detailed how he approaches coaching and development.

"We've got a way of doing things," he said. "How you do something is how you do everything. Consistency, performance is the key to the drill. So right now we're