Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
Time heals all wounds. You have to give it some time. Aren’t those the sayings and cliches?
That doesn’t apply to college football. At least not anymore. The cycle of hiring, firing, massive buyouts, and repeating has reached an all-time high, as patience from athletic departments and administrators continues to erode.
Sure, there are some cases where it happens like Clark Lea at Vanderbilt. But, everywhere else? Just look around. Billy Napier was on the hot seat at Florida almost as soon as the ink on his contract was dry. Auburn just fired their second consecutive coach in less than three years of being on the job.
Success is demanded at high profile jobs. And the ability to wait and see has gone out the window. That may especially be the case at a lot of places now thanks to Curt Cignetti’s rise to success at Indiana. Cignetti has given hope to a lot of places watching just how quickly his turnaround has taken. What he’s also given is a lack of excuses not to get there for most places, especially the ones with better resources.
Curt Cignetti in two years at Indiana:
* 25-2
* Two playoff appearances
* First ever Big Ten title
* Only two 10-win seasons in school history
* Wins over Ohio State, Bama, Oregon
* Heisman Trophy winnerWill keep saying it: We’re watching one of the best sports stories EVER pic.twitter.com/cMpW5hGEsx
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) January 2, 2026
It’s not just that Cignetti is winning, it’s that he’s winning at a clip we’ve rarely seen at a Power Four school going 25-2 in his first two seasons. Cinderella stories aren’t new in the world of sports. However, Cignetti went 11-2 in his first season with a roster that was largely copy and pasted from his time at James Madison. He’s 14-0 in his second season and doing so with a Heisman quarterback that may have been the best portal purchase in the history of the transfer portal. The rest of the team, though? No star recruits, overlooked athletes and players with little chance of getting to the NFL.
LSU and Lane Kiffin won’t have any of those issues and obstacles that limited Indiana for so long. He’ll have incredible facilities, deep pockets to build a roster and a green light for approval on anything he needs if it will help LSU do what Brian Kelly couldn’t – win.
The question becomes: what happens if he doesn’t right away? Even worse, what happens if he doesn’t at all.
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