When you hear the name Hoosiers, you always think basketball. One of the best ever sports movies that was ever made was called Hoosiers, which featured a small town high school in the state of Indiana winning it all on the basketball court. The University of Indiana has always been known for their basketball program over the non-existent football program they had since day 1. The first thought when you hear anything about Indiana’s Hoosiers is of their legendary head coach, Bob Knight. Nicknamed The General, Bob Knight was a complete asshole but all his teams were very disciplined on the court. It showed results on the court as Bob Knight ran the basketball program at Indiana University for 29 years. He won three titles as his teams went to 5 total Final 4 appearances. In the last two seasons at Indiana University, Curt Cignetti resurrected the school’s football program. Maybe not resurrected the program when it has never gotten off the ground in the first place. Instead Cignetti gave birth to a new football program that has never existed and quickly rewrote the entire Hoosiers football record book. Last Monday night, the number 1 team in the country, the Hoosiers, beat the #10 team the Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship in football. The schools first ever football title. How many chairs would Knight have thrown if suddenly his basketball legacy has turned into a football school?

In 1987, Indiana University won it all in men’s basketball. In the same year, the University of Miami would be known as the Cons of the league in football when they played Notre Dame as they lost that regular season game to the Irish. That game was known as Catholics vs Cons as they had a brawl to prove their love for each other. The Hurricanes took that loss and would do well the rest of the season. They made it to the National Championship game where they beat Oklahoma and became champs in 1988. Bob Knight was the head coach of the Hoosiers that season.

In 2022 the Hoosiers football program became the first Division 1 school to lose 700 games all-time. Before Curt Cignetti took the Hoosiers head coaching job, the team went 9-27 total in the three seasons before. The Hoosiers coming into the season won only three bowl games all-time. Their first bowl game win came in 1980 which was the Holiday Bowl, 1989’s Liberty Bowl, & then the 1991 Copper Bowl. This season they won two bowl games, the Rose Bowl and Fiesta. Which gives them 5 bowl games all-time along with their first ever National Championship. In two seasons with the Hoosiers, Cignetti has a 27-2 record in 29 games. He is the first head coach in Hoosiers history to have won back to back 10 plus win seasons. The Hoosiers finished the season a perfect 16-0 and join the 1894 Yale team as the only schools to finish with that record.

In the game of football when a team has a magic season, it usually means you have a talented quarterback under center. At some universities they mass produce quarterbacks in the factory like terminators in the great movie series, Terminator.

Of course Indiana University has that nice Hollywood story about the underdog as their star quarterback this season. Fernando Mendoza played two seasons at California University before transferring to Indiana University his junior season. You know one school is very happy how the transfer portal has went for them. In one season at Indiana, Mendoza never lost a game going 16-0 as the Hoosiers won two bowl games and their first National Championship game. He won the Heisman trophy. He threw 41 touchdowns while completing 72% of his passes. His sophomore season he had 16 touchdown passes in 11 games. Mendoza only threw 6 interceptions all year. Then he converted the play of the year in the National Championship game as the Hoosiers had 4th and 4. They went for it and Mendoza had one of the best runs by a quarterback in college football history as he ran for a 12 yard touchdown plunge as he got the first down and more. That touchdown gave Indiana a 24-14 lead with 9:18 left in the game. The Hurricanes would score another touchdown in the that game. The Hoosiers would add another field goal to win the game 27-21. Mendoza would not have any touchdown passes in the championship, but his fingerprints were all over the title game and the entire perfect season they had. What makes this even a better story is he played high school at Christopher Columbus high school in the city of Miami. Mendoza wanted to go to Miami University. The game was played right down the road from where his ole stomping grounds were at Dolphins Stadium. When he was in high school, he was right in the University of Miami’s backyard and he went to all their football camps. He applied there. The Hurricanes never offer him a scholarship to play football for them. He had to go elsewhere. It kinds sounds like the Hoosiers basketball movie, just a different sport being football. It has that Kurt Warner feeling as Mendoza haunts his hometown University by beating them in a school that was never known for their football program. Now Mendoza will certainly be selected number 1 in the NFL draft in April as he already made himself eligible. He may find a team that plays the Miami Dolphins and be that guy to haunt that city for years to come. Since the university did not like his homegrown south beach talents.

The Indiana Hoosiers had a well-rounded football team this season not just a stud quarterback doing it all. Curt Cignetti built a solid roster on both sides of the football field with his offense and defense. You could say he had all three phases of the game working like a well-oiled machine as you can say the special teams chipped in as well. In the title game it was Mikail Kamara that blocked the Hurricanes punt as Isaiah Jones recovered the football and ran it in for a score. The Hoosiers destroyed Alabama and University of Oregon in those two bowl game playoffs. They went up against Ohio State in regular season who were number 1 at the time and favored to win it all. The Hoosiers defense put a clinic on that Buckeye offense that blew out teams on a regular basis. Cignetti looks like he will be the pioneer of this football program unless he uses his time here as a stepping stone and moves on to one of those factory powerhouse college football programs these other schools have. The usual suspects. The state of Indiana when it comes to football at the college level has always been about Notre Dame. If Cignetti stays he may give the Irish a run for their money. Cignetti came from a smaller college, James Madison. The 12 playoff teams this season did have Cignetti’s old school make the tournament. He still may have some fingerprints in his old program as well. James Madison did not last very long as they were blown out by Oregon in the first game of their brief post-season experience.

The ending of Bob Knight at Indiana University could have been better. His record was 662-239 which is a .735 winning percentage he had at Indiana. In 29 years his teams made it to the NCAA March Madness tournament 24 times. In 63 games played in the tournament, he won 42 or them. Knight was a very angered man as a coach and human being in general. He was involved in multiple physical altercations with players, students, and superiors. In March of 2000, a tape of a Indiana practice in 1997 showed Knight choking his former player Neil Reed surfaced. The coach denied the first claim until the tape showed up on one of the networks. Then later in September a freshman named Kent Harvey said, “Hey Knight, What’s Up?”

That did not go well for that punk as Bob Knight like many adults want respect from the young’en’s. He yanked his arm and told him, “You call me Mr. Knight or Coach Knight.” The university had a zero tolerance policy in place for that kind of behavior as Knight was fired. Bob would quickly land on his feet at Texas Tech. Knight would retire in 2008 as his son took over his duties at Texas Tech. Bob would finish 902-371 in his career. He passed away at 83 years of age in 2023. Knight did return to Indiana University once in 2020 where he did get a standing ovation. Does one football title by head coach Cig Cinetti equal what Knight accomplished there for 29 years? Probably not. But if Cignetti continues to win games by the pile on the football field in Hoosier-land, basketball may be put in the back seat for generations to come at Indiana University. It has always been basketball in Hoosier-land. Knights country. Cinetti may change that all if he sticks around awhile.