After leading Indiana to an 11-1 regular season in his first year as head coach, Curt Cignetti was named the Home Depot National Coach of the Year, it was announced Thursday during the College Football Awards show.

Cignetti arrived in Bloomington in the offseason with a brash ‘google me’ attitude and then backed it up leading the Hoosiers to places no one ever imagined, including a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The 11 victories in 2024 are the most in program history and mark the first double-digit win season in Hoosier history.

IU was just 3-9 in the regular season last year. The 8-game improvement is tied sits tied for2nd best by a 1st-year head coach since at least 1996. Cignetti is the 1st Division I head coach to start 8-0 or better in consecutive seasons at different institutions. He led James Madison to a 10-0 mark to start the 2023 season and pushed Indiana to an identical mark to begin the 2024 slate.

Cignetti and Indiana will face Notre Dame in the 1st round of the College Football Playoff on Friday, December 20th at Notre Dame Stadium.