I know how this sounds. I know. You clicked this ready to tell me I’m an idiot, and honestly, respect, that’s the correct instinct with most sports takes that use the words “of all time.” But sit down for a second, because I think there’s a real case here that 64-year old Curt Cignetti should already be in the GOAT conversation.

Let’s start with the resume. The man is 146-37 for his career. That’s a .797 winning percentage across Division II, FCS, and FBS. He has literally won at every single level of college football that exists. Then he shows up at Indiana, a program that held the record for most FBS losses in history and the worst Big Ten winning percentage of anybody, and in Year 2 he goes 16-0 and wins the whole thing. A national title. At Indiana. The Basketball School.

And here’s the thing, the Indiana miracle wasn’t just some random luck. This guy has been doing this his entire career, everywhere, at every level. He took the head job at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Division II program coming off a 4-10 stretch, and went 53-17 with four Top 25 finishes. Then he went to Elon, a program that had gone 12-45 in the previous five years, and immediately flipped them to 8-4 and a playoff berth, then did it again the next season. Then James Madison, where he went 52-9, took them from FCS to FBS, and dragged a brand new FBS program into the AP Top 25 in its first transition year, which had never been done by anybody. Turning around Indiana wasn’t a fluke. It’s just the fourth time in a row he’s walked into a dumpster fire and had it ranked in the top 25 before anybody knew what happened.

So now let’s talk about the guy everybody’s gonna throw at me. There’s only one name that matters in this argument anyway.

Saban was great, but

Nick Saban is the default GOAT answer and I get it, seven natties, unreal, legendary. But let’s be honest about what that dynasty actually was. Saban spent fifteen years recruiting the best five star players in the entire country with the biggest bag in the sport, and a big chunk of his “genius” was just making sure those kids didn’t play anywhere else. He was less a coach and more a general manager of an all-star team that he assembled by hoarding talent. That’s impressive in its own way, sure. But it’s a different job.

Give Cignetti that Alabama roster and he goes undefeated with his eyes closed. Cignetti won a national championship at a BASKETBALL SCHOOL with a portal roster he put together in a matter of months, with multiple players being guys he brought with him from James Madison University. That’s coaching in the purest sense. Take away the recruiting monopoly and you take away a huge chunk of the dynasty, and everybody kind of knows it, they just don’t want to say it because seven rings is a scary number. It does not matter where Coach Cig goes, he wins. He revives programs.

And here’s the part people conveniently forget. Saban went 7-6 in his first year at Alabama. Seven and six. Cignetti’s “adjustment year” at Indiana was 11-2 and a College Football Playoff berth. One of these men needed years and a machine to build. The other one just shows up and started winning immediately, and then did it again, harder.

Coach Cig literally said “I win. Google me” in one of his first press-conferences at Indiana, and then went 16-0 & won a natty in his 2nd season.

All Hail Coach Cig

Stay safe, and f*ck the packers – Bobby