Curt Cignetti's to-do list: IU coach must juggle transfer portal, staffing, JMU bowl game

BLOOMINGTON – So, now what?

Curt Cignetti has officially been named as Indiana’s next head football coach. He will still coach James Madison through its bowl game, balancing his final commitments in Harrisonburg with staff- and roster-building efforts in Bloomington.

The portal window opens Monday, making this a crucial period in Cignetti’s first weeks on the job. And he’s got coaches to hire. The coming days and weeks look packed for the Hoosiers’ new head man.

Right away

Expect Cignetti in Indiana on Friday.

He’ll do an appearance on the Big Ten Network live around 12:30 p.m., from Indianapolis, where the conference championship game will be held Saturday night. From there, he’ll travel to Bloomington for his introductory news conference with the media.

It wouldn’t be remotely surprising to see him make an appearance at Friday night’s basketball game against Maryland. Then, the real work begins.

Pounding the portal

Armed with more than $3 million in NIL resources, expect Cignetti to hammer the transfer portal and begin rebuilding a roster in need of serious work. As things stand, the Hoosiers have roughly 30 open scholarships ahead of next season. The elimination of the annual counter limit, governing how many players a program can add in one cycle, will help.

IU’s new coach will run the rule over the players he currently has in the portal and decide whether he might want to retain any Hoosiers currently considering other options. He follows both Indiana quarterbacks, Dexter Williams and Brendan Sorsby, on Twitter, as well as Donaven McCulley, who would be a priority for any coach at this point. Cignetti might also want to discuss the futures with the veteran offensive linemen he has in the portal, currently.

He'll also want to take that NIL war chest for a spin, and see if there aren’t a few impact transfers he can bring to Bloomington to kickstart his first season on the job. The portal is also probably how he’ll address depth concerns once the dust settles on his roster after the move.

Cignetti will likely go through a similar process with Indiana’s 2024 high school class, though with just a few weeks until the December signing window, there won’t be a lot of room to add to that. Expect to see some of those players take fresh official visits to IU, if they haven’t already. Players can now take a second senior-year official to the same school if there’s been a coaching change.

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Staffing plans

Through the hectic days ahead, Cignetti will need to build a staff. It stands to reason he might bring a few coaches with him.

Mike Shanahan, his offensive coordinator, has enjoyed tremendous success working under the offensive-minded Cignetti. Bryant Haines, his defensive coordinator, was a semifinalist this year for the Broyles Award, given annually to the country’s top FBS assistant.

One potential layer it’s worth mentioning: At both of his stops prior to James Madison, Indiana (Pa.) and Elon, Cignetti’s success prompted school officials to hire one of his assistants to replace him. Those coaches have each gone on to success in their own right, and it might appeal to James Madison to try the same with one of Cignetti’s top assistants.

If you’re looking for IU connections, Haines was once a GA at Indiana, under Kevin Wilson.

There could also be staffers already in place in Bloomington appealing to Cignetti. Bob Bostad, for example, is a widely respected offensive line coach who did good work in his one season at IU. If there’s mutual interest, he’s the sort of coach it could make sense to retain. The same could be said here of whether Cignetti will retain some strength staff, or bring in help from the outside.

Lastly, Cignetti will probably get some leeway in adding to support staff. Be that quality control/analyst positions, recruiting help or something else, don’t be surprised to see IU allow its new coach some leeway in building fresh infrastructure.

Prepping for his bowl game

Cignetti will balance all that with bowl preparations back in Harrisonburg.

It’s not surprising Indiana allowed Cignetti to coach in James Madison’s bowl. The Hoosiers asked the same of Kalen DeBoer, after he was hired as Fresno State’s head coach between the end of the 2019 regular season and the Gator Bowl that year.

In each case, there was an element of the season that made it distinct — IU’s highest-profile bowl in decades, and now, the first in James Madison’s history.

It’s never been easier for a coach to balance both tasks at once, and while Cignetti probably has some long nights ahead, it’s understandable he asked and Indiana agreed to allow him to do both.

James Madison wasn’t supposed to be eligible for a bowl this season, as the Dukes are still in the NCAA-mandated transition period between FCS and full FBS status. JMU petitioned for relief from that rule and was denied, but it was eventually determined the Dukes would earn a bowl berth if not enough teams became eligible to fill every spot in the field.

Now, they’ll wait to know when, where and who they play, bowls generally being confirmed the Sunday after conference championship Saturday. Most major projections we’ve seen have slotted JMU into bowls like the Gasparilla and the Armed Forces, two games scheduled to be played before Christmas. That compresses preparation time, but it also means Cignetti will be free to attack the latter part of the winter portal window and begin making spring preparations in Bloomington.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football: Curt Cignetti must hire a staff, active in portal