Curt Cignetti once said, ‘Google me.’ This is what happens when you do
Curt Cignetti was salty.
Asked during a news conference how he planned to sell his vision to young players, the recently hired Indiana coach didn’t even look up while delivering his now-famous response.
“It’s pretty simple. I win,” replied Cignetti, who then paused for two seconds before saying the last two words.
“Google me.”
A little more than two years later, there’s no need to Google the 64-year-old coach who just finished leading the Hoosiers to an improbable 16-0 season and their first national football championship.
But anyone using the tech giant to search for Cignetti’s name will find something interesting right at the top of their search results page. It’s just three words:
“Yeah, he won.”
Google left the Easter egg after Indiana’s 27-21 victory over Miami in Monday’s College Football Playoff championship game. A company representative told the Times that the phrase would remain at the top of Cignetti’s page for the next few weeks.
Here are some other facts a search on Cignetti might produce. His first head coaching job came in 2011 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where his father, Frank Cignetti, played and then coached for 20 seasons. In six seasons with the Crimson Hawks, the younger Cignetti went 53-17 and led IUP to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances.
He then coached at Elon in 2017 and 2018, going 14-9 and taking the Phoenix to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Division I playoffs both years. As coach at James Madison from 2019-2023, Cignetti led the Dukes to a 52-9 overall record, three FCS playoff appearances – including the 2019 national championship game – and a 19-4 record in JMU’s first two seasons after joining the NCAA Division I Football Bowl.
Last season at Indiana, Cignetti took over a team that had won a total of nine games over the previous three years and led it to a program-best 11-2 record and a CFP playoff appearance. That set the stage for the Hoosiers’ historic 2025 season and second consecutive Associated Press Coach of the Year award.
Yeah, he wins.
