Craig Has The Scout - Indiana 2025
Coming Up
Who: Indiana Hoosiers
When: 6:30 pm – Saturday, September 20, 2025
Where: A Different Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, IN
How: NBC
Opponent Primer:
Head Coach: Curt Cignetti
Curt Cignetti is in his second year at Indiana, you can either Google it or talk to any Indiana fan who suddenly cares about November football. Cignetti’s got a little Tom Crean in him: beloved by his own fanbase, maddening to everyone else, and prone to stacking wins against teams that look like cardboard cutouts. Cignetti is a veteran coach, with an extensive resume. Cignetti started as a GA at Pitt in the early '80s, then bounced through Davidson, Rice, Temple, and back to Pitt as a QB coach. He moved from Pitt to NC State where he recruited Russell Wilson before Bret stole him. Finally, Cignetti joined Nick Saban’s first Alabama staff coaching WRs and was the recruiting coordinator, so he understands how budgeting for high level college football works.
Cignetti didn’t want to be just another assistant, so he took the scenic route to head coaching glory. Cignetti left Alabama to become the head coach at Indiana (PA), a Division II school. He then had a stop at Elon, Illinois’ recruiting nemesis in yesteryear, and then James Madison. At James Madison he converted an FCS powerhouse into a Sun Belt buzzsaw. By the time Indiana called in 2023, he had made JMU into a G5 darling. Now he’s the head coach of a traditionally moribund Indiana and has molded the Hoosiers into a playoff contender. The man can coach; the wins speak for themselves. His kryptonite are squads with similar talent levels. Cignetti’s career is a bit of a fairy tale, a football fever dream filled with a lot of grit, excitement, and trolling (and only Cignetti knows how many special handshakes).
Offensive Style: Pro-style spread with tempo.
Mike Shanahan enters his second season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. Not to be confused with the former NFL coach or his family, this Shanahan was Cignetti’s OC at JMU and is known for creative play design. A former Pitt wideout, Shanahan has been with Cignetti since Indiana (Pa.) and hasn’t left his side since. Shanahan’s offense is a modern spread attack that lives on tempo, spacing, and RPO concepts. Shanahan is adaptable to his talent, with a rotating cast of players. His play-calling mindset emphasizes versatility to take advantage of his talent and his ability to make in-game adjustments. They’ll line up in three- and four-wide receiver sets with pre-snap motion to force defenses to reveal coverages, then mix in zone-read runs and quick-game throws. By toggling between true RPOs and vertical shots, Indiana’s offense aims to stress every level of the field, using up-tempo sequences to wear down opponents and create explosive opportunities in both the run and pass game.
Defensive Style: 4–3 base (with a hybrid DE) with Cover 3 principles.
Bryant Haines is in second year as Indiana’s defensive coordinator after a decade alongside Curt Cignetti across four stops. A two-time Broyles Award semifinalist and former Ball State linebacker, Haines has been with Cignetti at every stop since Indiana (Pa.). Haines was the LB coach until Corey Heatherman (Miami DC) left JMU after 2021 and took over play-calling as DC.
Indiana’s defense operates out of a multiple-front alignment, with a 4-3 base that morphs into a 4-2-5 with nickel and dime sub-packages to disrupt blocking schemes and mask its true intentions. Indiana is another gap integrity and pattern-match coverage defense, leaning on a stout front four that rotates edge rushers. Haines tries to move around his playmakers and sow confusion to enable control of the line of scrimmage. In the secondary, Indiana mixes press-man and three-deep zone looks.
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