MIAMI – Holdovers from the previous staff might've dipped their toes in the water and waded up to their knees, but a headfirst plunge and an embrace of the impossible didn't come until last season's two-game stretch against Nebraska and Washington.
Indianawon six in a row out of the gate in coach Curt Cignetti's debut, rising to No. 24 in theUS LBM Coaches Pollagainst Northwestern on Oct. 5 and moving to No. 18 when hosting theCornhuskerstwo weeks later.
The game was never close:Indiana56, Nebraska 7. The following Saturday, after rising to No. 13 in the Coaches Poll: Indiana 31, Washington 17.
"It was kind of hard to tell during spring ball and fall camp," said junior wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. "Those were the games where I was like, 'OK, this team is going to be special.'"
Starting at the top with Cignetti and trickling through the program's every nook and cranny, a sense of unshakeable self-confidence has played a major part in the most unexpected turnaround in college football history.
A win Monday night against Miami in the national championship game will confirm the Hoosiers' climb from the bottom rungs of the Power Four to the top of the Bowl Subdivision in just two seasons, a remarkably rapid reversal even in this era of widespread player movement.
The many players who followed Cignetti and his staff from James Madison might not have predicted a national championship — not this soon, at least.
But from the start, this group formed the backbone of a roster that has defied expectations and recruiting rankings in placing Indiana on a collision course with history.
"The standard has always been the same from JMU to Indiana," said junior cornerback D'Angelo Ponds, who started as a freshman for the Dukes. "Everything has really been the same, from the strength coach to coach Cignetti to offensive and defensive coordinators to special teams, everything has been the same, the same standard."
The Hoosiers are a team of this moment.
A decade ago, Cignetti would have faced the challenge of building a winner through old-fashioned recruiting and development. Two years ago, he was able to quickly flip the roster by taking advantage of the transfer portal, immediate eligibility and significant NIL funding available through the school's massive alumni base.
"It's hard to even calculate the importance of that," said defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, who previously held the same position at JMU.
"They saw the day-by-day effort, energy to the ball, the accountability in every single thing that you do, the culture standpoint, the coaching that he puts on the guys. Like, they saw how it operates in real time. I mean, there's no better way to grow a team quickly than that right there."
Twelve players came with the staff from James Madison, including four who have become Power Four stars in Ponds, senior linebacker Aiden Fisher, senior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt and senior running back Kaelon Black.
Additional star power has come from former Maryland running back Roman Hemby, former Notre Dame offensive lineman Pat Coogan and, of course, former California quarterbackFernando Mendoza, this year's Heisman Trophy winner.
But while Mendoza stands as the most high-profile example of Cignetti's aptitude for talent evaluation and development, the initial crop of transfers from JMU are responsible for helping to set the foundation for the Hoosiers' rocket-like climb to the top of the FBS.
"It was something new to the Indiana culture after the last couple years of down years," Fisher said. "So we had a group of guys that were hungry to win, and I was excited to kind of bring that to this team, and everybody kind of gravitated towards it a little bit."
They helped install schemes. They often played "bad cop," Fisher said, embracing vocal leadership roles despite being newcomers to the program and the Power Four. At each step along the way through that first offseason and into the regular season, this group essentially served as additional assistant coaches advocating for patience and belief amid the Hoosiers' drastic overhaul.
"I never asked them to do anything. Everything they did, they did on their own," Cignetti said. "But they were the kind of guys that were going to make the program better and bring the team closer together. That's why I think they were so critical to the Year 1 success."
Because they'd seen this before. Hired in 2019, Cignetti led the Dukes to the Championship Subdivision championship game in his debut and the FCS national semifinals in 2020 and 2021 before hitting the ground running in the program's transition to FBS, going a combined 19-4 in two years before moving to Indiana.
"Big thing I told them, if you're not on your stuff, you're not doing what you're supposed to do, coach Cignetti will get you out of here and bring someone else in," Sarratt said. "That's business. That's the name of the game. The guys realized that quick and adjusted real quick."
By helping to speed up the rebuilding process, this transfer group has transformed Indiana from a national punchline into a source of inspiration for Power Four and Group of Five programs alike.
Roughly five years into the new, NIL-driven landscape, new head coaches — and often new assistant coaches — are expected to bring along the key players behind success at their previous stops. One recent example from this year's cycle isnew Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris, who has been joined byhis quarterback, top running back and top wide receiver from North Texas.
Several factors make Indiana unique, however.
The first is the better-than-expected foundation left in place by former Indiana coach Tom Allen, who hit a high-water mark by finishing No. 13 in the Coaches Poll during the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season. While the program then struggled to acclimate to the NIL environment, Cignetti still inherited current starters such as Cooper, left tackle Carter Smith, linebacker Isaiah Jones and cornerback Jamari Sharpe.
Another is the school's NIL offerings. While total spending is difficult to pin down, Indiana's athletics funding is widely assumed to be among the top three in the Big Ten and thus among the most nationally.
Athletic director Scott Dolson called the school's offerings part of "a total team effort," involving "thousands of people helping, big and small, to help make special things happen."
But the Hoosiers have a major benefactor inMark Cuban, who has given two supposedly substantial gifts to the football program since meeting Cignetti ahead of the 2024 season.
"Let's just say they are happier this year than last year," Cuban told Front Office Sports this month about his latest donation.
Indiana's rise also comes as several high-profile Big Ten programs have struggled through coaching changes and the challenges of roster management during the portal era.
Michigan's decline started with Jim Harbaugh's departure for the NFL after the 2023 season. Wisconsin has dropped off the map under coach Luke Fickell. Southern California and Washington have yet to acclimate to the Big Ten. Penn State was one of this year's biggest disappointments.
And the Hoosiers have Cignetti, who in just two seasons in the Power Four has become college football's next Nick Saban — a coach who seems to have a secret process that others may attempt to replicate but never get quite right.
"It's a credit to him for bringing us all in here with a direct goal in mind," Coogan said. "And it's really a credit to him for molding this team into a cohesive team and a team that believes in each other and a team that always has its back."
Combined with these factors is the unmistakable impact of the transfer group. In addition to the coach, the system and the funding, the ability to hit the ground running last season was the spark that ignited this year's remarkable run.
There seems to be a sustainability to Indiana's success.Another elite transfer class is set to enroll this spring, headlined by the latest major quarterback addition informer TCU starter Josh Hoover. The Hoosiers will begin next season at or near the top of every major poll and way-too-early Top 25.
But the model may not be repeatable or transferable to other programs. In addition to everything else that had to come together, the Hoosiers had faith: From Day 1, the players who followed from JMU established the belief that against all odds, Indiana would become a seemingly unstoppable force.
"It's coach Cignetti. He's going to be successful regardless what the year is," Fisher said. "So the track record they have of development, bringing guys in, getting them to play at a high level, it's just going to continue. And that's not just the linebackers. That's every position we have. Indiana's … they won't go anywhere any time soon."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Curt Cignetti brought JMU transfers with him to Indiana to key quick turnaround
