Curt Cignetti no longer needs skeptics to “Google him” about his tendency to win football games. The Indiana head coach has done the unthinkable: signed, sealed, and delivered the National Championship with no hopes whatsoever. However, a seasoned Urban Meyer sounded a warning for the brilliant coach.

“They want your coaching staff too. I can’t believe those coordinators, within a year, they’ll be head coaches,” Meyer said on the January 21 episode of The Triple Option.

After the success of the past two seasons, everyone seems to be sold that there’s more in store for Indiana, as long as Cignetti remains in charge. However, Meyer, speaking from his own experience, said that this peace will not last long for Curt Cignetti.

“Everyone is targeted. Everyone is a target,” Meyer said regarding Indiana’s future with Cignetti. “I mean, the great staff, they just get poached, man.”

Curt Cignetti has won it all in 2025. However, his meteoric rise in the sport this season also made him and his program a potential employment portal. The Natty win is undoubtedly a lot for the coach, but he also has more to lose because of it.

There are multiple examples of coaches getting out after winning the Natty. Take the Michigan Wolverines, for example. Jim Harbaugh led the team to an unprecedented title in 2024, but he soon left for the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL following the victory. Adding to those woes, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter packed his bags to join the Chargers with strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert.

Thus, Cignetti now has to work twice as hard to get the right people for the job. Just as the staff, some of the best players, including Fernando Mendoza, will leave the program for the draft. Players might be poached from the Hoosiers in the future, given the power of NIL in college football. Indiana has already lost Alberto Mendoza to Georgia Tech, a day after it won the Natty.

Hoosier football is well-endowed at the moment, but Cignetti has to ensure that the resources will suffice for his brand-new campaign for the 2026 season. He will practically have to start from scratch otherwise. But instead of being the hunter he was in 2025, he will be among the hunted in the upcoming season.

For now, the Indiana head coach should remain concerned about locking down his staff at Bloomington. But who exactly should Cignetti be worried about?

Curt Cignetti and Indiana’s rise triggered inevitable interest in its coaching staff

In today’s day and age in college football, loyalty can be razed to dust for the right amount of money. Indiana was lucky to be holding on to both Mike Shanahan and Bryant Haines amid the wild times of the coaching carousel this season. But that was when Indiana was still fighting to win the national championship.

These coaches had a job to do. Now that they have done it, there’s all the more reason for the duo to consider outside offers. The offensive coordinator, Shanahan, helped Indiana to record-setting highs by getting them to score 41.3 points per game, ranking second nationally. Likewise, with Mendoza dropping bombs from his position, they had a passing efficiency of 174.3, ranking at the top of the ladder.

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With Haines, he drilled his defense to restrict the opposition from getting TDs and scores on the board. Holding opponents under 100 yards in eight games remains a testament to the work he’s done at Indiana.

We’ve already seen talented assistants like Ohio State’s Brian Hartline and Oregon’s Will Stein accept their first-ever head coaching gigs. Hartline did so a year after he helped Ryan Day win a national championship, ending a brilliant five-year run as a Buckeye coach.

Everyone in college football now wants a bite at what made Indiana football the trailblazer it was in 2025. It would take a lot to rip Curt Cignetti from his dedication to Hoosier football, but getting to the assistants is a lot easier. He will inevitably face the heat of being a Natty-winning coach.