​Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti has long established himself as a winner in the role of head coach, but the national spotlight didn’t truly open until his success found its home in Bloomington. Finishing two seasons with the Hoosiers at 27-2, his record shatters the program’s historical norms and marks a level of achievement never before seen in Indiana’s lengthy history. In a single season, he guided the team to more postseason appearances than the program had accumulated over more than a century, and he led Indiana to its first national championship in the process.
As a result, Cignetti enters the 2026 season—his third in Bloomington—ranked No. 1 among college football coaches by ESPN. He sits atop the list ahead of Georgia’s Kirby Smart (No. 2), Ohio State’s Ryan Day (No. 3), Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman (No. 4), and Oregon’s Dan Lanning (No. 5). ESPN’s panel of reporters placed Cignetti at the top on five of ten ballots after he entered the 2025 season unranked, highlighting the dramatic and unlikely turnaround he has catalyzed. Now, heading into 2026, he aims to build on what has arguably been the most remarkable two-year transformation the sport has ever witnessed.