Curt Cignetti makes firm decision on leaving Indiana for NFL

The Indiana Hoosiers’ focus right now is solely on Monday night’s national championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Still, with the success Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti has had over the past two seasons in Bloomington, it was no surprise that rumors began circulating about him potentially being a candidate for an NFL job.

Those rumors, however, were officially put to rest on Saturday, when Cignetti addressed the speculation about leaving college football for the NFL, revealing it’s a decision he made “a long time ago.”

“I’m not an NFL guy,” Cignetti said. “I made that decision a long time ago. I’ve always been a college football guy.”

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Over the years, many coaches have attempted to make the leap from college to the NFL. While it works for some, others are simply meant to coach at the collegiate level, where they can fully embrace developing young players.

In the NFL, the dynamic is completely different—you’re managing a roster of grown men, which brings its own set of challenges. Coaches like Urban Meyer, who made the jump in the past, have noted that this difference is one of the biggest hurdles in transitioning to the pros.

Cignetti, meanwhile, has only lost one game at Indiana over the past two years, leading the Hoosiers to their two best seasons in program history back-to-back, and is now just one win away from claiming their first-ever national championship.

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