Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti shouts to the fans as he leaves the field following an NCAA college football game against UCLA, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)2025-12-16T16:58:21Z Indianas Curt Cignetti exceeded expectations again this season and it earned him a second consecutive honor as The Associated Press coach of the year in college football.Cignetti is the first coach to win the award in back-to-back years since it was first presented in 1998. He is the fourth coach to win it twice, joining Brian Kelly, Gary Patterson and Nick Saban.The 64-year-old Cignetti is 24-2 while leading the Hoosiers to unprecedented heights in his two seasons since leaving James Madison of the Championship Subdivision to take over what had been the losingest program in major college football. Last year, the Hoosiers won their first 10 games, were ranked as high as No. 5 in the AP Top 25, and reached the first round of the College Football Playoff.He outdid himself this year, showing his smashing debut was not a one-off.Indiana is 13-0, Big Ten champion for the first time since 1967, No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time and the top seed for the CFP. He also is coach of Indianas first Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the AP player of the year. Cignetti was a landslide winner for coach of the year in voting by the nationwide panel of 52 media members who cover college football. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Techs Joey McGuire and Vanderbilts Clark Lea received two each, and Virginias Tony Elliott got one. The magnitude of Cignettis work at Indiana cant be overstated. In 2022, the Hoosiers became the first Bowl Subdivision program to reach 700 all-time losses. They entered this season with 714, a figure that still stands, and theyve since been passed by Northwestern (717) for the dubious FBS mark.In a program that had never won more than nine games in a season before Cignettis arrival, the Hoosiers have double-digit wins for a second straight year and completed a regular season without a loss for the first time. Cignetti had said before last week that his program was chasing Ohio State in recruiting and on the field. The 13-10 win over the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship game marked another milestone. Its another step we need to take as a program, he said after the game. Its a great win, obviously. And were going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. And a lot of people probably thought that wasnt possible. But when you get the right people and you have a plan and they love one another and play for one another and they commit, anythings possible.___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football ERIC OLSON Olson is an Associated Press college football writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He also covers the Big Ten, the NCAA, the College Football Playoff alongside local teams Nebraska and Creighton. twitter mailto