Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti holds the trophy after their win against Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship game last Monday in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Curt Cignetti’s run to a national championship with the Indiana football team — now widely considered to be one of the greatest stories and coaching jobs in the history of sports — didn’t come without cursory criticism, given all of the changes to college athletics in recent years.

Yes, the investment from a billionaire like Mark Cuban helped deepen the pockets of the program when the Hoosiers needed reinforcements through NIL and fundraising. And yes, Cignetti built his roster around veteran players when he arrived at IU and did the same through the transfer portal this past offseason, assuring the “rebuild” would be driven by grown men ready to contribute immediately.

It’s the way of the world now. NIL and the portal changed college athletics forever, and while some say it’s for the better, many allege it’s a game driven — and rewarded — by reckless spending and zero loyalty.

Drive-by detractors naturally insisted these “short cuts” cheapened Indiana’s borderline-impossible title run — an undefeated 16-0 season through the Big Ten gauntlet and new playoff system for a perennial doormat program. The Hoosiers defeated seven teams — Illinois, Iowa, Oregon, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon again and Miami — that won nine or more games this past year, and also prevailed at Penn State.

From 1994 until Cignetti’s arrival in 2024, IU had only three winning seasons and zero postseason success. In fact, the Hoosiers’ opening-round playoff victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl was the school’s first since the 1991 Copper Bowl.

So Indiana was suddenly the poster child for the new era of college football.

Wait, Indiana?

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The gap between the haves and have-nots theoretically widened, and the title club was going to be exclusive to bluebloods. The traditional guard was spending money like never before, and supposedly, loading their rosters with elite talent backed by massive NIL budgets too massive to overcome.

So how did Indiana pull this off? Especially in 2026?

Cignetti maybe didn’t go the true “old school” route in terms of roster construction, and sure, his program is more competitive in today’s open market than IU teams of the past. But a funny thing seems to have happened on the way to modernizing college athletics: coaching is maybe more important today than ever before.

The Hoosiers weren’t the best team money can buy on the open market. Quite the contrary. Rather, Cignetti and his staff emphasized player development, culture fit and role responsibility. They found athletes who may not always look like much individually, but collectively, Indiana became a force — and arguably, the most unlikely powerhouse champion we have ever seen.

Cignetti was quietly hired by Indiana in November of 2023 after a successful stint at James Madison University. Prior to JMU, he coached at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon.

Not exactly a who’s who of powerhouse programs.

He’s also no spring chicken at 64 years old. Cignetti does have Nick Saban roots — he served as an assistant under Saban in his early Alabama years — but there was very little proof on paper that his track record would someday lead to this.

Cignetti had a plan, though. At his introductory press conference, when a reporter asked how he would sell this beleaguered program to prospects and somehow make Indiana relevant, Cignetti famously quipped, “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”

The lesson? At the end of the day, it still comes down to coaching. Relationship building. Trust. Positive reinforcement. Pushing athletes to reach their full potential, while also helping them see the bigger picture in doing so.

How does this relate to the teams in our state? I could see something similar happening with Ben McCollum — like Cignetti, a championship-level and often-overlooked Division II stalwart — and the Hawkeye men in the years to come. To a certain extent, it already has with T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State; the Cyclone men went from the bottom of the Big 12 to a perennial national contender almost overnight. Right place, right time, right guy.

Some fans – and even coaches or administrators — may still think throwing more money at the equation and landing elite recruiting classes represent the end all, be all. That certainly attracts headlines and gets you in the door. In team sports, though — now especially — the pieces to the system’s puzzle have to fit. And the system isn’t catered to just plug and play individual talent.

Never has been. Never will be.

Cignetti, to his credit, catered the changes to his style rather than buying into the idea that he had to abandon his core identity. It’s a new world, but the old principles still apply.

Good coaching — teaching, leading, communicating, mentoring and caring — will thankfully never go out of style.

Eric Pratt is Sports Editor at The Messenger. Contact him via email at sports@messengernews.net, or on Twitter @ByEricPratt