How Curt Cignetti built college football’s best staff

Curt Cignetti’s eye for talent may be his superpower. 

He knows exactly what he wants. He knows how to develop the talent into stars. And he knows how to build a culture to make the stars want to stay even as more money and more traditional powerhouse programs beckon elsewhere.

No, we’re not talking about Cignetti’s ability to find talent such as Fernando Mendoza, though he is clearly elite at doing so. This is about Cignetti’s eye for … coaching talent. 

How does Cignetti turn around programs like Indiana so quickly? He has a traveling squad of like-minded loyalists who have chips on their shoulder and are obsessed with being prepared for any possible scenario. 

His top two deputies, offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, have been with him for more than a decade as Cignetti went from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to Elon to James Madison and, finally, Indiana. Five on-field coaches have been with Cignetti at multiple stops, plus strength and conditioning coach Derek Owings. 

And, in Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship against Miami, two former proteges will even be on the opposing sideline trying to deny Cignetti college football immortality. Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman (JMU) and running backs coach Matt Merritt (JMU/Elon) both spent multiple seasons with Cignetti. 

“He does a great job of hiring people,” IUP head coach Paul Tortorella told CBS Sports. “Not only good football coaches, but good people. He didn’t make many mistakes.”

Tortorella has been at IUP since 1995, arriving at the Division-II school to work as Frank Cignetti Sr.’s defensive coordinator. He stayed on when Frank Sr — known as “the Big Guy” around the school — left and later when his son, Curt, arrived. It was a big deal for the small school that not only was another Cignetti leading the way, but that he left Alabama to do so. 

Not that there weren’t some hiccups along the way as the younger Cignetti got accustomed to his new surroundings. 

One day, early on in Cignetti’s offseason program, he turned to his defensive coordinator and asked him where all the cones were. 

“They’re all out there, Curt,” Tortorella said. 

“You mean to tell me we only got eight cones?” Cignetti asked incredulously. 

“Yeah, that’s what we got,” Tortorella said back. 

“He looked at me like I was crazy,” Tortorella said. “I laughed about it and we got some more cones. I mean not only was it Division I but he was at Alabama. It doesn’t get any better than that. For whatever one thing we had at IUP, they had 150 of those at Alabama.”

While he didn’t have much money to offer assistants at IUP, he focused on identifying young coaching talent and trusting his abilities to develop them. Cignetti liked what he saw from a 26-year old West Virginia Wesleyan offensive coordinator and brought him in as his offensive coordinator. That was Luke Getsy, who would later go on to be an offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders. 

There’s a track record of IUP assistants going on to success in the NFL. Cignetti Sr. once hired a young defensive backs coach from Division III named Nick Sirianni, who impressed those in the building with a maniacal thirst for football that long solo nights in the office until 2 a.m. could hardly quench. Sirianni’s career of course exploded from there as he made a meteoric rise up the NFL ranks before eventually becoming the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning head coach. There were plenty of personality and coaching differences between Cignetti Sr. and his eldest son, Curt, including how long to practice, but they share this uncanny skill. 

Said Tortorella: “I think they probably have that same trait that they can see something in young coaches.”

Shanahan and Haines have been with Cignetti since the IUP days, when they were only receiving $6,000 stipends. Cignetti liked the pedigree each had — Shanahan came highly recommended after a stint as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh while Haines spent a year under Urban Meyer at Ohio State. They were grinders, just like Cignetti. 

Indiana’s 2025 coaching staff

Cignetti possessed an elite football mind and he could see it blooming in young coaches. He had that rare ability to differentiate between the deep-sea divers and the snorkelers, the guys who actually lived and breathed football versus the ones who liked what it could do for them. 

Haines came in as defensive line coach and also the strength and conditioning coach — a double-duty you’d never see at the FBS level. Shanahan, a former Pitt wide receiver who bears no relation to the NFL’s Shanahan dynasty, took over the receivers room. 

“He found those guys as stipend coaches and those poor guys were barely making ends meet, and he was loyal to them,” said Steve Roach, who worked as IUP’s AD during Cignetti’s time. “They were loyal to him. It says a lot about the chemistry between (Cignetti, Shanahan and Haines) especially.” 

Cignetti has rewarded that loyalty over and over again. From once making $6,000, Haines and Shanahan are now two of the highest-paid assistant coaches in college football. As Cignetti got things rolling and the young deputies proved worthy, he’d give them more and more responsibilities. He actually listened to his coaches too, and made them feel valued when they came up with good ideas. He liked promoting from within, though sometimes there was a can’t-miss external coach he had to have. 

Like Corey Hetherman. 

Now Miami’s defensive coordinator and a Broyles Award finalist for the nation’s top assistant, Hetherman was FCS Maine’s defensive coordinator. Cignetti loved what he saw from Maine’s attacking defense and brought on Hetherman as the DC on his first James Madison staff. When Hetherman left three years later for a job at Rutgers, Cignetti promoted Haines to his first defensive coordinator job. 

The results have spoken for themselves. Hetherman’s Miami defense ranks first nationally in sacks, fifth in scoring defense, fifth in SP+ defensive rankings, sixth in rushing defense and 11th overall in total defense. Haines’ IU defense has been even better — second in SP+ rankings, second in scoring defense, second in rushing defense and fourth in total defense. 

“It’s the same thing that he finds in the transfer portal with recruits — it’s production over potential,” Haines explained. “He hired Corey Hetherman as the defensive coordinator because Cory was leading Maine, and Maine’s defense was incredible, he had produced at Maine. Those things matter to Coach Cignetti. 

“I’ve produced as a position coach, as a co-defensive coordinator for Coach Cignetti, those things matter. It’s not about the guy that’s leaving Texas that’s never called a play. It’s do I know this guy holds a certain standard and is going to execute his job description even as a coach?” 

Once Cignetti gets a keeper like Haines in the building, he treats him well. His short practices are the stuff of legend now — when IUP was rolling they were as short as 60 minutes, according to Tortorella — and he does his best not to grind his staff into dust. Cignetti is a film freak, always breaking down tape and looking for an edge, and that flows throughout the organization. But he’s never been the kind of guy to stay at the office until 2 a.m. just to prove he’s working harder. 

He pushed his staff to be efficient and organized, but to still try to have a life outside football. When things slowed down, he’d like to golf with some of his assistant coaches. If he didn’t think a coach needed to still be in the office, he’d tell him to go home. 

“He treats his staff really well, and by that, I mean we’re not working ungodly hours,” said James Ferguson, who worked with Cignetti at IUP, Elon and JMU. “He kept his staff fresh as well as the players. And that’s why I think you see that continual success because he rewards the loyalty.”

It’s one reason why Haines turned down programs like Ohio State and Penn State a year ago. It’s a reason why Shanahan turned down Group of Five head coaching opportunities this cycle. The coaches are well-compensated into the millions, they know exactly what Cignetti expects from them (and vice versa) and they are winning in a way no one thought possible at Indiana. It has temporarily limited the growth of Cignetti’s coaching tree, but it’s a matter of when, not if, the two Indiana coordinators become head coaches. 

With that loyalty comes a staff that has a strong argument for the nation’s best. Indiana is so well-prepared and so well-coached, and that shines through every time you watch the Hoosiers play. Indiana’s nation’s best plus-21 turnover margin isn’t happenstance, it’s the result of a coaching staff all moving in the same direction. Indiana rarely gives up big plays, doesn’t give up many points and has the ability to beat you a number of ways offensively. 

Tortorella, who took over the IUP program after Cignetti left, has enjoyed watching Indiana’s postseason run. He’s not particularly surprised by any of it, not after working so closely with Cig, Haines and others. 

“They are the best-coached team in America,” he said. “There ain’t any question. They are the best coached team in America in all three phases.”