Indiana coach Curt Cignetti once said, ‘Google me.’ This is what happens if you do it now
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- Curt Cignetti’s brash “Google me” retort when hired at Indiana proved prophetic: The Hoosiers just completed a historic 16-0 season and won their first national championship.
- Google celebrated with an Easter egg atop Cignetti’s search results page.
Curt Cignetti was salty.
Asked at a news conference about how he planned to sell his vision to young players, the recently hired Indiana coach didn’t even look up while delivering his now-famous response.
“It’s pretty simple. I win,” answered Cignetti, who then paused two seconds before delivering the final two words.
“Google me.”
A little over two years later, there’s no need to Google the 64-year-old coach who just finished leading the Hoosiers to an improbable 16-0 season and their first national championship in football.
When Curt Cignetti was hired at Indiana, it had the most all-time losses among FBS teams. Cignetti has since molded the Hoosiers into the No. 1 team.
But anyone who does happen to use the technology giant to look up Cignetti’s name will find something interesting at the very top of his search result page. It’s just three words:
Google left the Easter egg following Indiana’s 27-21 victory over Miami in Monday’s College Football Playoff championship game. A representative from the company told The Times the phrase would remain atop Cignetti’s page for the next few weeks.
Here are some other facts a search on Cignetti might produce. His first head coaching gig came in 2011 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where his father, Frank Cignetti, played and then coached for 20 seasons. In six seasons with the Crimson Hawks, the younger Cignetti went 53-17 and led IUP to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances.
Indiana backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza, brother of star QB Fernando Mendoza, announced he’s transferring to Georgia Tech the day after winning the national championship with the Hoosiers.
He then coached at Elon in 2017 and 2018, going 14-9 and taking the Phoenix to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs both years. As the coach at James Madison from 2019 to 2023, Cignetti led the Dukes to an overall 52-9 record, three FCS playoff appearances — including the 2019 national championship game — and a 19-4 record in JMU’s first two seasons after moving up to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.
Last season at Indiana, Cignetti took over a team that had won a combined nine games over the previous three years and led it to a program-best 11-2 record and a CFP postseason appearance. That set the stage for the Hoosiers’ historic 2025 season and Cignetti’s second straight Associated Press coach of the year award.
Yup, he wins.
