The Indiana Hoosiers just made one of the stealthiest but boldest staff hires of the 2025 season, plucking straight from the SEC’s den. Curt Cignetti’s ambition is peaking through Bloomington, as he landed another recruit at the artificial turf of the Memorial Stadium. Designation? An assistant Director of player personnel, plucked from Kirby Smart’s crew, where he served in the capacity of player personnel assistant. Guess who?

Sales Pinckney is the new face at Curt Cignetti’s staff. At Athens, he worked directly under Smart and Will Myres, scouting talent across the country. CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz broke this news. “Indiana is hiring Georgia player personnel analyst Sales Pinckney as an assistant director of player personnel.” Pinckney also boasts career stops at UTEP and Austin Peay, working under Scotty Walden. It’s pretty obvious, the 2025 season opens tomorrow, and yet Hoosiers are scouting talented minds on its turf. So, the grind is on at Indiana.

Now, let’s head back to Kirby Smart a little, shall we?

Smart toiled under the legendary Nick Saban for nine seasons at his previous stint at Tuscaloosa, before heading back to his alma mater. Saban’s learnings bore fruit, as Smart beat the Crimson Tide in the national title game in 2021. Boosting his resume, he won two national championships. Now, zooming back to Hoosiers, Indiana raked in a 10-0 start and a college playoff birth last season.

Curt Cignetti is striding confidently towards the 2025 season. As a coach, the most difficult part is not about stacking up robust records; it’s about the continuity, sustaining the dominance. And the head coach is buckling up to take on that challenge.

“I get questions, how are you going to sustain it? We’re not looking to sustain it. We’re looking to improve it.” One consistent theme, spanned across all of his speeches has been consistency. “Consistency day in, day out. Consistency is huge so that we can play fast, physical, relentless, smart, disciplined, poised, not affected by success, not affected by failure, and never ever satisfied until the game is over.” It took 11 wins and a historical season for the Hoosiers to grab the headlines and enter the national conversation. This season?

The head coach has all its chess “pieces” ready. The only task left is to mold the group of individuals into a team. “We’ve got to get them all thinking alike, all buying into the team vision.”

After star quarterback Kurtis Rourke departed for the pro league, Cignetti plucked Fernando Mendoza, a 6’5, 225-pound beast from Cal, to fill the lacuna. Tallying an impressive 2024 campaign at California, he chipped in the ninth 3,000 yards in school history, completing 68.7% of his throws. Not to forget his six touchdowns, while keeping his interceptions to six. After molding James Madison and Rourke into an NFL product, Mendoza is showing some impressive flashes of talent.

“He’s a big guy that’s very mobile, got a quick whip, got good velocity on the ball and can really drive it,” Cignetti said of the QB1. “He’s done a nice job of learning the offense and still not perfect, but nobody out there is.”

Meanwhile, Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is ready to take the heat. “He’s (Cignetti) is an offensive mind, he holds everyone to a high standard, his program always wins, and those are two things I want—to be held to a high standard and win,” remarked Mendoza. But the real question is, is Curt Cignetti satisfied with the drills?

Curt Cignetti not satisfied

Curt Cignetti is prepping up to prove his mettle, yet again, the 2025 season is not going to be a cake walk. The CFP has rolled out new metrics to gauge the merit. Now, it’s not about stacking up delicious records, but also who you’re squaring off against. The ‘who’ factor is crucial, and the schedule strength is the new sheriff in town. They have already earned Paul Finebaum’s ire, owing to their “weak schedule,” starring Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, Indiana, and others.

Still, it’s a bumpy road for what awaits the Hoosiers come the 2025 season. And Curt Cignetti acknowledges that. “I see a lot of improvement out there. But it’s still not where it needs to be. And when it’s close, you can never be really satisfied if you want to be great,” he laid out plainly.

They are lined up against Oregon, Illinois, Iowa, and UCLA, among others, but have avoided Michigan and Ohio State altogether. And concerns regarding their non-conference schedule are getting sharper. Can they make it to the playoffs?

Cignetti continued about his roster. “So, you know, whoever’s doing the best out there right now. And I don’t know who that is consistently over camp, I guarantee you one thing, he’s not satisfied.” So, what is Indiana Hoosier’s ultimate goal? “That year in, year out competes for Big Ten championships and College Football Playoff. Ultimately, a national championship. That’s our vision.”