'He's going to win.' Former Fishers QB played for new Indiana coach Curt Cignetti at Elon

Connor Christiansen, back in town from his current home in Charlotte, was attending the Colts-Buccaneers game Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium with his uncle when topic of the Indiana football coaching vacancy came up in conversation.

Tom Allen had just been fired, ending a 33-49 tenure in seven seasons. There was momentum after Gator Bowl and Outback Bowl appearances following the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but little following 2-10, 4-8 and 3-9 seasons.

Immediately, Christiansen had one name in mind.

“My uncle asked me, ‘Who do you think the Hoosiers should get?’” Christiansen said. “My first answer was, ‘Coach (Curt) Cignetti.’ I didn’t think it was realistic because I had no idea he was thinking about leaving.”

When the news of Cignetti’s hiring Thursday at Indiana reached Christiansen, he immediately texted his uncle. Then he texted Cignetti, his former coach: “Hoosier nation is happy to have you.”

“I’m not even an IU fan,” Christiansen said with a laugh. “I’ve never rooted for them. But I root for coach Cignetti everywhere he goes, so I’m going to root for the Hoosiers now.”

Christiansen, 28, a former Fishers quarterback, has seen first-hand how Cignetti can turn a program around. Christiansen was recruited to Elon University, an FCS program in Elon, N.C., by Rich Skrosky, who was recently hired after recruiting Christiansen as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Ball State.

“I fell in love with it on a visit,” Christiansen said, “and committed right there.”

For three years, Elon was not a good team under Skrosky. The Phoenix went 1-11 in Christiansen’s redshirt season of 2014. He started five games in 2015 as the team went 4-7. Christiansen injured his throwing shoulder in 2016 and the team stumbled through a 2-9 season.

After putting up a 7-27 mark in three years, Skrosky joined Butch Davis’ staff at Florida International as offensive coordinator.

“We were not a good football team,” Christiansen said of his first three years at Elon.

It was into that relative mess that Cignetti was hired in 2017. The longtime assistant, an original member of Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama from 2007-10, had turned around the program at Indiana University (Pa.), leading IUP to three Division II playoff appearances in six years and a 53-17 record.

Christiansen remembers the first meeting the Elon team had with Cignetti.

“We still talk about it,” Christiansen said. “There was not smiles or, ‘We’re going to do our best.’ He was very serious and not putting any limitations on what we could do. He was very direct. It was like, ‘I’m going to give you everything I’ve got. That attitude was infectious. His attitude was, ‘We’re expecting to win.’ He coached at Alabama, so he knew how to win.”

It happened quickly. His first team at Elon started 8-1, including wins over four FCS top-20 programs. But it was the season opener, a 47-13 loss at FBS Toledo, that might have set the tone.

“We’re getting killed by Toledo in the last couple minutes and he’s yelling across the field because they were still running the ball and not taking a knee,” Christiansen said. “He was saying, ‘I’ve been there 100 times where you are.’ Everybody on our sideline was like, ‘Whoa, he’s not messing around.’ He had this belief to him that he wasn’t here just to go 2-9 again. There were a lot of small moments like that.”

Christiansen’s injuries sapped his arm strength and led to a meeting shortly after Cignetti’s arrival. He asked the former Fishers’ standout if he would be willing to switch to defensive back.

“I called my dad right after that meeting,” Christiansen said. “I may have cried after. But it was the right thing. I gave it a shot and it was the most fun two years I had. Coach (Cignetti) made football fun for me again. Those three (previous) years, it was kind of a struggle. But Coach Cignetti genuinely changed my life.”

Christiansen made four interceptions as a senior, including a game-sealing pick in the final minute of a 27-24 upset win at No. 2 James Madison in 2018. After going 14-9 in two seasons at Elon, Cignetti took the James Madison job before the 2019 season and leading that program to a 52-9 record and the FCS national championship game in his first season.

Christiansen texted his former Fishers teammate and former IU receiver J-Shun Harris II that the Hoosiers were getting the best coach possible.

“My message to IU fans is that you got the guy who is going to get you where you want to go,” Christiansen said. “Elon was a very similar situation to IU, where it has struggled in the past. He wins everywhere he goes. I saw it with my own eyes. We were a struggling program and our coach just left us. He gets young guys to believe and the guys he’ll bring with him on his staff are like-minded guys. He’s going to win.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football hires Curt Cignetti: Fishers QB played for him at Elon