Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti spoke with the media on Monday, following the Hoosiers' 13th fall practice.
Below is Cignetti's full Q&A, as well as a partial transcript.
Cignetti: Alright, plugging along, we’re still in camp. You never arrive, that’s the thing about athletics, you’re always fighting human nature. You have a good day, you can’t relax, you have to come back with a better day because you get better, you get worse, you never stay the same. You’ve got to keep the standards high. You can never lower your standards. It’s what makes this a great game is the edge, the difference between victory and defeat is always very narrow. It’s a mindset in terms of consistency and performance and playing at a high level, day-in, day-out, play-in, play-out, it’s a mindset, it’s not normal. I think we’ve made progress in that area, day-in, day-out. Our highs aren’t’ as high and our lows and aren’t as low. We’re still not there because you never get there, you always got to play the next play, get ready for the next day. Constantly changing situations, stimuli, in this business. You guys write articles and it’s boom, on paper, fixed in print, permanent forever and forever. We deal more in processes; you guys deal more in finite things than we do so that’s why we’re all so process oriented. I definitely think we’ve made progress, but we’re still in camp and we’re not there yet.
Q: On the fit and relationship working with Bryant Haines and Mike Shanahan throughout the years...
Cignetti: Well, it’s not so much a fit for me, as it is hiring the best person for the program at that particular time. Then, they’re no different than me. They’re accountable, they have to produce year-in and year-out, but they’re good at what they do, and they have. Bryant (Haines) had an excellent football mind when I lost Cory Hetherman who is now the DC at Minnesota. Bryant was the best candidate; he was ready for the job. Mike, his particular situation, when I had a vacancy, he had been with me a while, he knew the offense, he knew the areas we needed to improve and I was able to hire a quarterback guy that I thought would be really good for the program, because Mike (Shanahan) is focused on receivers, because it was best for the program. Obviously, everything that has to do with this program has to fit and align with my philosophy, the players we recruit, the people we bring in, coaches and players. But, I’ve seen those guys grow from being real, young coaches, and they’re still young, but I’ve seen them progress every year.
Q: On the setback of losing Nick Kidwell to injury...
Cignetti: On a personal level, it’s really hard because Nick’s been with the program really since 2019, was actually there in 2018 before I got hired. He’s started a lot of games, played a lot of football, he’s a good player. He really put a lot of time in, rehabbing, coming back, was rounding back into form, was a big part of our initial plans. I feel bad for him because I know what his goals were coming into the season and when you’ve been with a player that long, you know with the COVID year you’re with guys longer now. He’s 24 years old. As I look back since 2019, we’ve lost an All-Conference or All-American (player), one or two every year in camp or early in the season and usually on the d-line or o-line and had to overcome those and we have. So, it’s a next-man-up mentality and right now you’ve got Bray Lynch, Drew Evans and Tyler Stephens as sort of a triangle in there, three-for-two. They’re capable and I have confidence in them. So, we’ll see what the future holds for Nick.
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