BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Reluctantly, Curt Cignetti was set to embark on a trip away from his new home of Bloomington that his wife is sure he could use.
"Rather be watching tape, to be honest with you," Cignetti quirked last Wednesday morning to reporters.
The calendar finds itself in February, where the unusually warm seasonal temperatures indicate that spring football is soon coming. Last Wednesday was National Signing Day, but the Hoosiers had already put the finishing touches on their 38-man flock of incomers before the clock struck midnight the night before, although soon more may be coming in the spring transfer portal window.
Now, this is one of the only times Cignetti is afforded time off. He and the majority of his coaching staff have spent all of January on the recruiting trail, seeing a host of 2025 and 2026 recruits and hosting several on campus. As a collective, the coaching staff's few days off from the days-long grind returned to function was set to return to action on Tuesday.
The situation Cignetti and company inherited required such efforts to overcome what he called a 'crisis' roster situation.
"We had 10 offensive starters in the portal, a number of defensive guys, 25 in total," Cignetti said. "We were rebuilding and making the roster. I hate to ever say I was pleased because you can never be pleased and satisfied, but I thought we got a lot of good work done in December and changed the roster, which i'm very optimistic about, what we got done in the portal."
Yet while the coaches have spent the first part of the semester on the road reshaping the outlook of both this year and the next few years' roster, the players on campus have been turned over to the strength and conditioning staff – headed up by Derek Owings. When the coaches who will lead them on Saturdays are away through the developmental months of the offseason, its in the weight room where the progress is initially founded and built upon. It takes a deep trust in someone to
"Strength and conditioning has really changed through the years," Cignetti said. "It's become a very scientific thing. I think he's on the cutting edge, gets great results. I have 100% confidence in him. I don't mess with him. That's his area. I let him go.
"I know the players really like what we're doing down there. He changes their bodies. He'll cut a lot of body fat, still add lean muscle mass, quicker, stronger, faster, more explosive. I've seen the results."
Having worked together over the past four seasons in Harrisonburg before making the move over to Bloomington, their ideas of what works are similar. Forged by the past successes, Cignetti sees no reason to change now.
It's all a part of the burgeoning shift taking place under the regime in Bloomington, aimed at erasing the previous precedent set and laying new groundwork.
"(Cignetti) has been phenomenal to work for. The thing I love about him is he lets me do my job," Owings said in a recent interview with Rhett Lewis on Under the Hood with Indiana Football. "There's a lot of coaches that want to micromanage. They want to have this, they want to have that inside the strength and conditioning department. He always tells me, 'I hired you for a reason. Do the best job in America.'"
For Owings, putting his fingerprints on the program has meant work to be done in every facet of the strength and conditioning facilities. New technology and equipment feature throughout Memorial Stadium's north end zone weight room and Mellencamp Pavillion, and new faces line his staff alongside him.
But his philosophy in the weight room starts with the Saturday demands between the white lines.
"For me, everything starts on the field," Owings said. "What are the on-field demands, per position, and we're going to reverse engineer backward. Every single position has a specific demand – O-line is different than DB, DB is different than quarterback. There's general qualities inside that. We're trying to make the fastest, most violent team in America, period."
MORE: Owings' full interview with Rhett Lewis
"The offseason is his baby," Cignetti said. "He's a big part of what we do. That's why I do everything I can to keep him on the roster, pay him as well as I can, because he makes a difference.
"He's a winning edge. I think our guys are seeing that downstairs right now."
Training time under tension, building size, strength and robustness will be mixed with speed training twice a week. Taking over a new team requires laying new foundation, mixing incoming talent and molding holdovers from the previous training schedule.
Different technology is utilized to track not just pure strength, but the way it's developed. It goes further than just the numbers associated with max squats and bench press. Bar speed, readiness, player power, isometric strength and asymmetry are all among the new measurables under focus of analysis generally referred to as GPS data.
"I think a lot of the guys came in and adapted well, particularly the guys that were used to the program, like the JMU guys, for instance, P5 transfers," Cignetti said. "It took some of the guys that were returning from this squad last year a little while."
There's plenty of ground to be made up ahead of the Hoosiers' first game in a new era. But the early flashes show promise.
"Everybody is caught up now and all the reports are good."
–––––
Like this content? Join the conversation on TheHoosier.com's premium message boards and subscribe today!
– Follow TheHoosier on Twitter and Facebook!
– Subscribe to TheHoosier on YouTube for more content
– TheHoosier's Premium Football Board and Premium Hoops Board
