Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has been selected as the 2024 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year after leading the Hoosiers to a spot in the College Football Playoff and the most wins in program history.

Cignetti, coaching in his first season in Bloomington, is the second coach from Indiana to win the Eddie Robinson Award and the first in more than 50 years. John Pont was the Hoosiers' first winner in 1967.

"The Sugar Bowl is honored to partner with the Football Writers Association of America to recognize coaching greatness each year," said Sugar Bowl President Walter Beck. "Congratulations to Coach Curt Cignetti of Indiana on being selected over a long list of very deserving candidates. It is truly phenomenal to see everything that Curt has accomplished in his first year with the Hoosiers, but I think what stands out more than anything is the eleven wins by his team, which is the most in the program's 137-year history. What an accomplishment! We look forward to celebrating Curt's success by presenting the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award to him in Atlanta next month."


"The Eddie Robinson Family congratulates Coach Curt Cignetti on being named the 2024 FWAA Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year. Coach Cignetti has maintained a winning trajectory that college football has recognized wherever he has coached, and we wish him continued success at Indiana University," said Eddie Robinson III, Coach Robinson's grandson.

"Curt Cignetti did the unthinkable at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to the best season in school history with style and a little bit of flair. Our voters did not have to Google him to determine he was a deserving winner of the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award," said FWAA 2024 President Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com. "It was obvious as soon as you put on the television or stepped into the press box and watched his team play. Congratulations on an outstanding season!"

Part of Cignetti's initial task at Indiana was assembling a roster after a reported 36 scholarship players chose not to return from 2023. 13 players from James Madison where Cignetti coached before Indiana joined him. Two of them, linebacker Aiden Fisher and defensive back D'Angelo Ponds, became FWAA All-America Team. Fisher, on the first team, is Indiana's first All-American at linebacker since 1944 (Jack Tavener), and Ponds, on the second team, is the Hoosiers' first defensive back All-America selection since its last one, Tiawan Mullen in 2020.

Three Indiana players were named by media and coaches to the All-Big Ten First Team: Fisher, Ponds and Mikail Kamara, was No. 5 in the FBS in total pressures (64). IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke was named to the second team by coaches and media, wide receiver Elijah Sarratt and offensive lineman Mike Katic earned third team selections, while Cignetti was the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Cignetti finished the season the 11-2 season. his overall record as a head coach is 130-36 record in 14 years as a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2011-16), Elon (2017-18) and James Madison (2019-23). In 13 seasons as a head coach, he has never had a losing season, as well as becoming the first Division I head coach to start 10-0 in consecutive seasons at different schools (James Madison, 2023; Indiana, 2024).