Curt Cignetti's first Indiana staff is complete

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Curt Cignetti's first full-time staff of assistants at Indiana is complete.

Sources confirmed that the Hoosiers' new head coach made the 10th and final hire of his initial staff when Rod Ojong was brought on Thursday to coach cornerbacks. Many members of the new-look Hoosier staff comes over from Harrisonburg to Bloomington.

Get to know each of the new assistants below:

Of the same namesake but of no relation to the longtime NFL head coach, Shanahan has been with the Dukes program since December of 2018. As an assistant, his career began primarily overseeing the JMU wideouts, but he was elevated to offensive coordinator ahead of the 2021 season – a role he's held since. He also previously served as recruiting coordinator on staff in Harrisonburg.

Paired with an offensive mind the likes of Cignetti's, the Dukes offense has been humming under he and Shanahan's direction. In 2022, the first season at the FBS level for JMU, the Dukes' attack ranked in the top 30 in six different categories. The success has come primarily through the air, as in 2023, James Madison had a predicted points added of .518 on each passing play. That mark ranked 11th among all FBS passing offenses in 2023.

Over the past three seasons, Shanahan's offenses have been steered by three tremendous quarterbacks. Jordan McCloud was named the 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year and an obvious First-team All-Sun Belt selection. The year prior, QB Todd Centeio earned SBC Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors. Before that, in the final year of FCS play for the Dukes, All-American QB Cole Johnson was named the CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year.

All of the above mentioned quarterbacks flourished under Shanahan's watch. The offense has been high-powered and aerial-oriented. Aside from prolific quarterbacks, various receiving threats have emerged to be all-league worthy under his tutelage.

Additionally, the Dukes had two All-Sun Belt First Team wide receivers in 2023 with Shanahan as the position coach.

As a duo, the duo of Cignetti and Shanahan have worked together since 2016 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. They've joined each other with stops at IUP, Elon, JMU and now, the Hoosier program.

That's not only impressive cohesion, but it also shows a continual philosophy of thinking and a stability in being able to recruit top talent that produces at each level. As a package deal, Shanahan is a valuable addition to the IU program.

Haines is another Cignetti-led staff stalwart, having worked together with the new Hoosier head coach on IUP's staff, at Elon and, most recently, at JMU. In Haines' time at JMU, the Dukes' defense ranked top 10 nationally on both sides of the FCS --> FBS transition for total defense. In the most recent season, the Haines-led Dukes defense was the No. 1 defense against the run, allowing just 61.5 yards per game and just 2.1 yards per carry.

He's fulfilled the role of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach since the beginning of the 2022 campaign, a promotion from his spot as co-defensive coordinator prior in his tenure.

A former linebacker at Ball State, Haines was one of the great defenders across college football during his time in Muncie.

As a whole, the Dukes' defense ranked top-30 in total defense this past season, allowing just 328 yards of offense a night. In terms of total scoring, the Dukes' defense was top-20 – surrendering just 18.5 points a game en route to an 11-1 regular season that, if not for an NCAA rule, would have them playing for a Sun Belt championship game this upcoming weekend.

James Madison had the conference's Defensive Player of the Year for the Sun Belt in 2023, defensive lineman Jalen Green, who lead the nation with a Sun Belt record 15.5 sacks. Overall, the Dukes had two First-Team All-Conference selections and three Second-Team nods.

The Hoosiers will hope to replicate the success in Bloomington as well.

Serving as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the Dukes, many of the successes attributed to Shanahan can also be pointed toward Sunseri.

Sunseri, a former Pitt quarterback, spent time on the staffs of Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, a season with Tennessee in 2018, and two seasons on Nick Saban's staff at Alabama before arriving to Harrisonburg, where he's lead what can only be described as one of the most prolific offenses in college football – regardless of level of competiton.

Similar to the fashion that Cignetti-led teams have won everywhere he's been, Sunseri's designed passing attacks have enjoyed the same successes. A reminder, the aforementioned three previous quarterbacks have all won Conference Player or Offensive Player of the Year awards at the forefront of the Dukes' offense, and four of the last five.

This is a seriously threatening offense that Sunseri helps master. Indiana will benefit tremendously from his addition.

Miller was a former Dukes standout athlete from 2014-2017, spending time as both a wide receiver and running back during his playing days in Harrisonburg. The 2017 Colonial Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Year and a First Team All-CAA Punt Returner, Miller was hired by Cignetti to join the JMU coaching staff in 2021.

Prior to his addition to the coaching staff at James Madison, Miller spent time with Texas and Eastern Carolina. With the Pirates in a short stint during 2019 as a graduate assistant before becoming an offensive quality control coach with the Longhorns prior to his time at James Madison, Miller was tabbed as a "excellent young coach" by Cignetti when he was re-introduced to the program.

"John Miller will do an outstanding job in the areas that are key to program development," the original release said.

The Dukes led a top-tier offense in the Sun Belt over the past two seasons, which included a rushing offense that ran for 186.7 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2022. The Dukes' rushing attack was less effective a season ago, but in compliment with JMU's passing game, the Dukes won 11 games in 2023.

Cain is another former JMU coach that's making the trip from Harrisonburg to Bloomington with Cignetti. A coaching veteran with previous positions at Mercer and Coastal Carolina, Cain coached Dukes tight end Zach Horton to a first-team All-Sun Belt nod this last season.

Cain was named assistant head coach prior to the 2022 season – the first at the FBS level for the Dukes – while maintaining his other titles.

The two – Cain and Cignetti – have shared the same staff since the first season of the Cignetti era at James Madison in 2019. Familiarity runs deep with this "new-look" staff.

Bostad is the one holdover from the previous Indiana regime to the new one. Indiana's offensive line made significant improvements from the previous year to last one in the first season under Bostad's guidance with the Hoosiers.

While many of the players Bostad worked with a season ago are either in the transfer portal or leaving school for other reasons, the proof is in the progress with the Hoosiers in the trenches. Indiana will likely need a rebuilt offensive line, and Cignetti feels that Bostad is the man worthy of the job.

He'll enter his second season on staff and his 35th year of coaching on Cignetti's staff.

A Cincinnati native, Williams arrives in Bloomington from Colorado State's program after two seasons with the Rams and Jay Norvell.

Williams has coaching experience since 2010 with stops at North Dakota State, a four-year stint, a single season at UT Martin, and with Illinois as a graduate assistant for two seasons among the more notable of his work environments.

Hired on before the Dukes' first season at the FBS level, Kuntz helped coach a defensive line unit that was the country's best against the run in 2023.

The Roncalli (IN) High School former player and coach was a standout guard for Notre Dame in college. As a coach, he's made stops at Vermont Military Institute and Southern Illinois.

It isn't his first stop at Indiana, either. In 2016-2018, as a graduate assistant, Kuntz was a part of Tom Allen's staff for the Hoosiers.

Adams joins Cignetti's staff after a most recent stop as a defensive analyst with Penn State. He's also got experience under his belt as a defensive coordinator with Villanova, and was an assistant coach of defensive backs with the NFL's Denver Broncos.

With Penn State, the Nittany Lions' defense was stout:

Adams is a former AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute participant in 2019 for his time as the Wildcats' defensive coordinator. Many consider Adams to be a rising star in the business.

Ojong comes to Indiana after a single season at Charlotte, where he was the defensive backs coach with the 49ers.

He was a defensive backs coach with Buffalo for two seasons, a defensive analyst at Georgia in 2020, coached corners at the FCS ranks with Furman and Austin Peay. He's served as a graduate assistant at North Carolina and was a part of the defensive staff at Memphis in 2015, among his more notable stops.

Derek Owings is joining Curt Cignetti's staff at Indiana, coming from James Madison to head the strength and conditioning program for the Hoosiers.

Owings served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for James Madison from 2020-2023. Prior to joining the Dukes, Owings worked on the staff at Texas Tech and Central Florida. Before that, he was a graduate assistant at Utah State and interned with the Michigan football program.

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