CBS Sports has put Indiana coach Curt Cignetti at No. 1 among all 68 Power Four coaches entering the 2026 season, a steep climb for a man it ranked No. 43 just two years earlier and No. 21 last preseason. The panel of 10 voters made the change after Cignetti turned Indiana into one of the sport’s biggest surprises in a hurry.
People searching for cbs sports this week are finding the same question from a different angle: how did Cignetti go from a mid-pack ranking to the top spot so fast? Indiana’s 11-2 season in 2024 ended with a playoff berth, and Cignetti kept winning after that, beating five coaches ranked above him in 2025, including Oregon’s Dan Lanning twice. Penn State fired James Franklin before Cignetti had a chance at a sixth win over a higher-ranked coach.
The rise looks even sharper when set against where CBS Sports started with him. In May 2024, when Cignetti was about to coach his first season at Indiana, the outlet said he was 119-35 in his career with four conference titles and noted that James Madison had been in the Top 25 in each of his last two seasons there. It also said the 2024 season would be his first at this level, but that he had plenty of experience and success along the way.
That view did not survive long. Indiana went 11-2 in his first season and reached the playoff, and by the 2025 preseason rankings CBS Sports had moved him up to No. 21 — though one panelist still slotted him at No. 61. Even then, the gap between the public buzz around Cignetti and the panel’s split opinion was obvious, a reminder that the national reputation of a coach can lag behind the results on the field.
Cignetti’s resume helps explain why the climb was so quick once the wins came. He had never suffered a losing season as a head coach, and before arriving at Indiana he had already guided James Madison to an 11-1 season and a top-25 ranking. CBS Sports did not spell out the exact formula behind the No. 1 vote, but the simplest answer is the one Indiana has been producing since 2024: Cignetti keeps beating teams, and the ranking now matches the results.
