{"id":80454,"date":"2026-01-19T15:03:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T18:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/indiana-president-hoosiers-sudden-rise-expected-under-cignetti\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:03:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T18:03:59","slug":"indiana-president-hoosiers-sudden-rise-expected-under-cignetti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/indiana-president-hoosiers-sudden-rise-expected-under-cignetti\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana president: Hoosiers’ sudden rise expected under Cignetti"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MIAMI BEACH Fla. — Though some college football fans might consider No. 1 Indiana<\/a>‘s historic run to the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday night a Cinderella story, university president Pamela Whitten told ESPN on Sunday that this was exactly what coach Curt Cignetti was hired to do.<\/p>\n

“It was just an assumption that we were going to go to the national championship,” Whitten said on the eve of the CFP title game against No. 10 Miami<\/a> at Hard Rock Stadium. “That was the goal. And so it’s funny now when people say, ‘Oh, aren’t you so surprised and shocked that Indiana’s in the national championship?’ I don’t want to be rude, but no. This was the goal.”<\/p>\n

Cignetti took over a school with the most losses in major college football history and will play for the program’s first national title after leading the Hoosiers to their first two 10-win seasons ever. Indiana has produced an FBS-best 26-2 record over the past two seasons after going 9-27 in the three seasons before Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson hired Cignetti in 2023.<\/p>\n