Indiana President Reveals Major Changes Under Cignetti After CFB Was Treated as 'Intramural Sport'

Indiana has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past two seasons since the hiring of head coach Curt Cignetti, and the team will have the chance to win its first national championship in program history on Monday night when it faces Miami in the College Football Playoff final.

While speaking to ESPN's Heather Dinich, Indiana University president Pamela Whitten explained that a shift in the school's mindset helped create the path to success.

Despite Indiana long being known as a basketball school, the fact that college football generates 75-80 percent of the revenue in college sports made Whitten realize that the Hoosiers couldn't "treat football like an intramural sport anymore, so we're going to prioritize it, and we're going to win, and we're going to go to a national championship."

That declaration made Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson so happy it was like he was "unleashed," Whitten said. The two of them hired Cignetti after the 2023 season, and with help from the transfer portal and NIL, turned the football program into a national powerhouse. The Hoosiers are ranked No. 1 in the country and carry a perfect 15-0 record in Monday's showdown against the No. 10 Hurricanes (13-2).

"We're here because we prepared the right way and we have the right people in the staff and in the locker room, and we have tremendous support from our president and athletic director, and we have a great fan base," Cignetti said at the CFP media day Saturday, per Dinich. "We have a plan and a process, and we have great leadership and good players, and we've been very consistent in terms of our play in all three phases, so we've met every challenge. So the novelty of being here, to us, isn't there. We're here."

Despite the swift turnaround, Indiana is entering Monday's national championship game with the utmost confidence that its dream season will be completed.

"We really know we can win," Whitten said. "All three of us walk into this, we're going to win. We can win. There's never been any doubt in any of our minds, that's the goal. I'm confused by people who don't assume that."