Indiana's Curt Cignetti Wins Coach of the 12 months Award for 2nd Straight Season

[ad_1] For the second consecutive season, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has been named faculty soccer's Coach of the 12 months following a magical 2025 marketing campaign.

Cignetti, who joined Indiana final November, gained the Dwelling Depot Coach of the 12 months Award on Friday night time, making him the primary coach to win the award in back-to-back seasons. He's additionally simply the second coach to win the respect twice, becoming a member of Brian Kelly, who gained it in 2009, 2012 and 2018.

Cignetti's Hoosiers delivered an encore worthy of recognition following his profitable first 12 months in Bloomington the place they fell within the first spherical of the School Soccer Playoff after going 11-2 general and 8-1 within the Huge Ten. In contrast to 2024, nonetheless, the 2025 season will go down as one of the best in program historical past with Cignetti and California switch quarterback Fernando Mendoza main the way in which.

Indiana went undefeated (13-0) for the primary time since 1945 and gained its first outright Huge Ten championship since 1967 with a win over Ohio State en path to clinching the No. 1 seed within the CFP for the primary time. The Hoosiers enter the CFP because the favorites to win their first-ever nationwide title.

Whereas Indiana was considered one of CFB's most well-rounded groups, Mendoza proved to be a serious catalyst behind the success. In his first season with Cignetti, the redshirt junior earned the proper to name himself a Heisman Trophy favourite after main the nation with 33 landing passes to only six interceptions, and finishing 71.5% of his passes (226-of-316).

Mendoza has gained a number of awards, together with the Davey O'Brien (prime QB) and Maxwell (Participant of the 12 months) Awards, getting into Saturday's Heisman Trophy ceremony. Ought to he win the coveted honor, Mendoza could be the primary Hoosier to ever win the Heisman, giving Cignetti one other feather in his cap as top-seeded Indiana appears to make CFP historical past, beginning with its first-round recreation on Jan. 1.

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