Indiana Makes Home Run Hire, Might Be The Best Of The Coaching Cycle

Curt Cignetti is the new head football coach at Indiana, and it's a great hire.

The Hoosiers announced the hire of Cignetti Thursday afternoon. The former James Madison coach was hired following the program firing Tom Allen and paying him $20 million to disappear.

Indiana needed a hard reset and wasted no time in making it after the final game of the season. Now, less than a week later, Curt Cignetti is running the show, and it's an awesome hire.

Indiana hires Curt Cignetti to replace Tom Allen.

Cignetti's hire might not make a splash like Mike Elko at Texas A&M or Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. He definitely has way less name recognition. That's true.

However, he might be the best coaching hire of the cycle. Cignetti is simply a winner. It doesn't matter what level he's been at, all the former James Madison coach does is win.

New Indiana coach Curt Cignetti was incredibly successful at James Madison. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

He's 119-35 as a college coach and went a stunning 52-9 with the Dukes. That includes an 11-1 record this season. The Dukes have been an FBS program for two seasons, and he went 19-4 in that period of time. His accomplishments speak for themselves. Some might wonder how impressive not winning at the FBS level is or what it might indicate.

Well, Lance Leipold came straight from DIII to D1, and it worked out just fine. Cignetti has proven that he can get the job done, and Indiana is desperate for a coach who can win.

The team has won a pathetic nine games over the past three years. Fans are desperate for change, and Cignetti can bring it. He wasted no time before crushing it once James Madison upgraded from the FCS, and while the Big Ten is a murderer's row of teams, he has the track record to prove he can mix things up.

Curt Cignetti is the new football coach at Indiana. (Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A home run hire by any metric, even if it's not as sexy or splashy as some bigger programs. Are you an Indiana fan? Let me know your reactions at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.