BLOOMINGTON — Indiana University's head football coach Curt Cignetti was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, the school's athletics department announced Tuesday.
Cignetti earned the Hayes-Schembechler Big Ten Coach of the Year from the conference coaches and the Dave McClain Coach of the Year from the media that covers the Big Ten.
This is the fourth time in Cignetti's career that he earned coach of the year accolades from the conference office.
He was the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2012, the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 2017, and Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2023.
IU Athletics said Cignetti is the third Indiana to win the Big Ten Coach of the Year award, with Tom Allen in 2020 and Bill Mallory in 1986.
This is Cignetti's first year coaching the Hoosiers. Their 11 wins this season mark the most in program history and the first double-digit wins in IU's history, IU athletics said.
Cignetti engineered an eight-game improvement from Indiana’s 2023 to 2024 seasons, which ties for the second-best improvement by a first-year head coach since at least 1996.
Cignetti agreed to an eight-year contract with an average annual compensation of $8 million through 2032.
