The Indiana Hoosiers had the worst record of any team in NCAA history. Then Curt Cignetti showed up and flipped the script. Long before the Hoosiers’ revival, he was leaving his mark in Tuscaloosa. Now, with the Rose Bowl looming around the corner, Greg McElroy revealed how he and Cignetti used to scheme ways to bug Nick Saban just a little harder.

Alabama beat writer Nick Kelly recently took a trip down memory lane, piecing together never-before-heard stories from nine former players and coaches connected to Cignetti at Alabama and Kalen DeBoer at Indiana. 

“Coach Saban was lighting us up,” the former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy recalled.

The day was 2009, and Saban was upset with Alabama’s offense at the start of practice. Cignetti held the wide receivers coach position and pulled McElroy aside during the practice to have a heart-to-heart talk.  

“Man, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed today,” Cignetti remarked. “Don’t worry. You just keep doing you, and I’ll keep doing me. Mac will keep doing him. All will be just fine.”

The offense caught fire in seven-on-seven and full-team periods. This only cranked up Saban’s temperature. Around him, an offensive win always meant defensive failure.

“Cig took it in stride, and we flipped it,” McElroy said during the interview with Kelly. “The second half of practice was all offense. As a result, worst practice in ‘Bama history from coach Saban’s standpoint.”

Cignetti ran Alabama’s recruiting machine, stacking five top-five classes and claiming the national crown in 2011 and 2012 before heading to Indiana. His Alabama fingerprints are all over stars like Julio Jones, Eddie Lacy, Trent Richardson, Dre Kirkpatrick, AJ McCarron, Blake Sims, CJ Mosley, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

Fresh off coaching the Miami Dolphins, Saban landed at Alabama in 2007, facing a program plagued with mediocrity and starved for a national title for 15 years. To help dig the Tide out, he tapped Cignetti, North Carolina State’s quarterbacks coach and recruiting ace.

Five seasons, 55 wins, one undefeated 2009 season, and BCS titles over Texas Longhorns and LSU Tigers sum up Cignetti’s Alabama legacy.

“We had a great experience at Alabama,” the Hoosiers head coach said during the pre-Rose Bowl press conference. “It was real important part of my journey. Learned a lot from Coach Saban in terms of organization, standards, stock, and complacency. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my time under Nick.”

Cignetti’s trophy case kept stacking after his Alabama stint. Apart from Coach of the Year awards, he’s no stranger to glory, having also claimed top coaching honors in the Sun Belt (James Madison Dukes 2023), Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (Indiana 2012), and CAA (Elon Phoenix 2017).

The Rose Bowl marks a full-circle moment for Cignetti, as he faces the team that made him. How stacked is his squad for the showdown?

The X-factor hiding in Curt Cignetti’s squad

Alabama enters the Rose Bowl at full throttle. The Crimson Tide may be a touchdown underdog, but the Tide pulled off a 17-point comeback over No. 8 Oklahoma in the first round, making history as the first program to win a road game in the College Football Playoffs.

Alabama’s defensive coordinator, Kane Wommack, insists the game hinges on execution, led from the back by safeties Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb. That’s what keeps Cignetti and Co. on high alert. 

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“I would argue he’s as good as any safety in the country right now,” Wommack said of Hubbard. “As a tandem and a duo, I think they’re playing at a really high level.”

In that case, Cignetti would need a secret weapon. Turns out that his most significant weapon in the Hoosiers’ first game of the College Football Playoff may not be the usual stars like Fernando Mendoza or anyone on Indiana’s defense. It’s likely to be Carter Smith, the highest-rated offensive lineman in the entire College Football Playoff.

Smith isn’t Cignetti’s starting center. But his steady, physical presence has anchored the Hoosiers’ line all season. It helped them earn semifinalist honors for the Joe Moore Award. A veteran with 38 career starts, he’s been a key reason Mendoza has stayed clean, allowing just 12 sacks in 13 games.

Curt Cignetti faces his toughest measuring stick yet, squaring up against the roots that made him and the team he’s built.