On May 11, Indiana Hoosiers head football coach Curt Cignetti pulled off a legendary and highly calculated sports troll on the grandest political stage possible. As the Hoosiers were being honored at the South Lawn of the White House after their 16-0 undefeated national championship run, Cignetti, standing alongside President Donald Trump, decided to mock his former team, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Just as Trump was about to finish detailing Cignetti’s playoff run achievement, “Next up was the Rose Bowl, where Indiana delivered a commanding 38–3 victory over Alabama…,” Curt Cignetti boldly leaned forward and jokingly shouted, “Roll Tide!”

The comment surprised even President Trump, who laughed and responded, “Coach? You’ve got to be kidding. That’s right, over Alabama. That’s a big one.”

The moment quickly went viral because the Bama fans were yet to recover from their worst post-season of the century (101 years, to be precise).

The joke also had extra meaning because Cignetti used to work at Alabama earlier in his career as a wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 to 2010.

After not seeing a future in Tuscaloosa beyond being a great recruiter, the 64-year-old took a flier on himself and made a leap of faith into D2 football. The popular consensus among Bama fans is that if Saban had promoted him to assistant coach back then, this whole situation probably never would’ve happened in the first place.

Meanwhile, the rest of the White House event stayed relaxed and fun. Trump even compared Cignetti’s confident personality to boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

There were other light moments too, like Trump briefly losing track of Cignetti even though he was standing nearby, and Cignetti jokingly offering to let the President keep the championship trophy in exchange for a large donation to Indiana’s player fund.

The team also gave Trump a custom No. 47 Indiana jersey, a signed football, and an official helmet.

Such shenanigans are common for national championship winners, and no one knows it better than Bama players themselves. In 2018, during their own visit to the White House, Coach Saban and his team captains were invited into the Oval Office. Saban later shared a hilarious encounter involving a prominent box on the president’s desk featuring a single red button.

A curious Alabama player asked if the device was used to launch missiles. Trump challenged the player, saying, “Well, push it and find out”. After some hesitation, linebacker Rashaan Evans built up the courage to press it. Instead of initiating a military operation, the button simply signaled a staffer, who walked into the room carrying a Diet Coke on a silver tray.

At the end of the day, the White House trip was the perfect finale to what many folks now call the greatest single turnaround story in college football history, if not American sporting history. Cignetti took over a terrible 3-9 team and, in just two years, completely changed the fate of a state known mostly for basketball. Curt went 27-2, including wins over the likes of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, and Miami, to capture the school’s first-ever national title.

However, Nick Saban deserves some of the credit, too, for grooming Cignetti.

Curt Cignetti gives credit for Nick Saban’s notorious expectations

Curt Cignetti recently did a 40-minute interview on Josh Pate’s College Football Show and talked about his Year 1 at Tuscaloosa. Even though the head coach comes from a famous football family, with his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., in the College Football Hall of Fame, he said his first year in Tuscaloosa really surprised him.

“Really, after one year with (Saban), I felt like I had learned more about how to run a program than maybe the previous 28 as an assistant,” he said.

Cignetti said the biggest thing he learned from Saban was how calm and steady he always was. No matter whether the team won or lost, Saban acted the same. He often said, “Normal equals average,” meaning players should not get too excited after wins or too upset after losses.

He also said Saban was sometimes even harder on the team after big wins. This was done on purpose so players would stay focused and not get too confident. The goal was to keep everyone humble and not believe too much praise from outside people, which Saban called “rat poison.” After all, one could argue that rat poison is the reason Bama lost by 35 points.