INDIANAPOLIS — When Curt Cignetti took the Indiana job last fall, he promised immediate success.
After daring doubters to Google his winning pedigree, the son of a Hall of Fame football coach delivered on his word by leading the Hoosiers to a school-record 11 wins, a top-10 ranking and an improbable first playoff berth that set up a Friday night game at No. 3 Notre Dame.
Cignetti was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year on Tuesday, collecting 30 of 45 votes from AP Top 25 voters. Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham finished second with eight votes, Oregon coach Dan Lanning received five and SMU coach Rhett Lashlee got two.
“Thank you to The Associated Press for this tremendous team honor,” Cignetti said. “Our program has had a great season and we look forward to opening the College Football Playoff against Notre Dame on Friday.”
Few thought such a season was possible at Indiana, much less in his first season. Cignetti, 60, authored an eight-win turnaround that captivated the nation at a school with the most losses in Football Bowl Subdivision history.
Then again, all Cignetti does is win.
He has never had a losing record in 14 seasons as a head coach and has a reputation for making quick turnarounds everywhere he goes: Alabama, where he served as Nick Saban’s first recruiting coordinator and won a national title, following his father to Indiana University of Pennsylvania or at FCS school Elon and James Madison, where he presided over the most successful transition from the FCS to the FBS in NCAA history.
Cignetti won conference coach of the year awards at IUP, Elon, James Madison and now in the Big Ten with Indiana. Cignetti brought most of his coaching staff and 13 players from the Dukes to Indiana and the results were as surprising as they were at any of his previous stops.
Even Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman took note.
“I didn’t know much about him, so I took a minute and Googled him and looked at some of the things he’s done in the past at his other places,” Freeman said Sunday, a week after the playoff pairings were announced. “He’s won everywhere he’s been. He’s done a great job.”
The winner of seventh-seeded Notre Dame (11-1) and 10th-seeded Indiana advances to the quarterfinal round against second-seeded Georgia (11-2).
Cignetti is the first Indiana coach to win the award since its inception in 1998. His predecessor, Tom Allen, finished second in 2020 after leading the Hoosiers to a 6-2 mark, a second straight January bowl game and a final ranking of No. 12.
But this has been a historic season for the Hoosiers (11-1) and Cignetti, who became the first Indiana coach to start 10-0 — or even post double-digit wins in season.
Indiana produced its largest margin of victory in school history, 77-3 over Western Illinois, in September and two of its three largest victory margins in Big Ten play, 56-7 over Nebraska in October and 66-0 over rival Purdue in its regular-season finale.
Ten of the 11 wins were by margins of 14 or more points and the Hoosiers only trailed in the second half of one game, a loss at then-No. 2 Ohio State. And Indiana isn’t just the highest scoring team in the playoff at 43.3 points per game; it also has the No. 6 scoring defense (14.67 points) and the No. 1 run defense (70.8 yards per game) in the FBS.
It’s not a surprise to anyone in the program, least of all Cignetti.
“This team’s accomplished a lot, I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished,” Cignetti said. “I think the coaches have done a great job, players have done a great job. But in saying that, no one’s satisfied. The players are hungry for more, the coaches are hungry for more.”
Former NFL quarterback Mike Vick has told people close to him that he plans to accept the head coaching job at Norfolk State, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Tuesday.
The Spartans are finalizing a deal to hire a new coach, according to sources.
Norfolk State officials declined to comment on Vick specifically when reached by ESPN. The officials said they would not release a statement Tuesday but planned to release one soon indicating they were going through the formal steps of their hiring process.
Sources told ESPN that Vick, 44, has informed Sacramento State officials that he is no longer in the mix for their open head coaching position and indicated to them he’s taking a job closer to home at Norfolk State. Vick’s hometown of Newport News, Virginia, is about 20 miles from the Spartans’ campus.
As a player, Vick carried Virginia Tech to the 1999 national title game and went on to become the first Black quarterback to be chosen with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. He has been an NFL analyst for Fox Sports since his retirement in 2017.
News of Vick’s plan to take the Norfolk State job was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot.
ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
The New York Yankees acquired outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger in a trade with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, continuing to stock up on high-end talent in the wake of outfielder Juan Soto‘s free agent defection to the New York Mets, sources told ESPN.
In the deal, the Yankees will receive $5 million to offset Bellinger’s salary — he will make $27.5 million in 2025 and has a player option for $25 million in 2026 — and will send right-hander Cody Poteet to the Cubs, sources said.
Bellinger, 29, is a former National League MVP whose father, Clay, played for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001. His return to form after three substandard seasons came in 2023 with the Cubs, and he agreed to a three-year, $80 million free agent contract with Chicago in March.
After hitting .266/.325/.426 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs this year, Bellinger declined to opt out of the rest of his deal. Chicago will pay $2.5 million to cover part of Bellinger’s $27.5 million salary this season. The remaining $2.5 million will either cover the contract buyout if Bellinger does not exercise his player option or go toward his $25 million salary in 2026, according to a source.
New York’s acquisition of Bellinger follows the free agent signing of left-handed starter Max Fried and the trade for All-Star closer Devin Williams. Coming off a World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees have spent the week since Soto’s signing fortifying themselves for another run.
Bellinger’s versatility fits perfectly to fill holes in New York’s lineup. He is an above-average center fielder and can either play there or in left field if the Yankees prefer to use rookie Jasson Dominguez in center. He also is a top defensive first baseman, and while Anthony Rizzo‘s free agency opened the position, New York could opt for an in-house option in Ben Rice or pursue Pete Alonso or Christian Walker in free agency.
At his best, Bellinger is a middle-of-the-lineup force whose bat-to-ball skills should help buttress the loss of Soto. When he won the MVP as a 24-year-old in 2019, Bellinger hit .305/.406/.629 with 47 home runs. Over his eight-year career, he has batted .259/.334/.484 with 196 home runs and 597 RBIs in 1,005 games.
The Cubs had spent the winter seeking a trade partner for Bellinger, looking to free up payroll in hopes of improving a team that went 83-79 this year. The teams spent significant time haggling over the amount of money the Cubs would include in a potential deal.
Ultimately, they settled on the $5 million figure and the 30-year-old Poteet, who started four games for the Yankees this year. In 24⅓ innings, Poteet struck out 16, walked eight and posted a 2.22 ERA. In three major league seasons split between starting and relieving, Poteet has a 3.80 ERA with 69 strikeouts, 35 walks and 13 home runs allowed in 83 innings.
NEW YORK — The New York Mets signed infielder Jared Young to a one-year contract Monday, adding depth at first base after star slugger Pete Alonso became a free agent this fall.
Young is a .210 career hitter with two homers, eight RBIs and a .725 OPS in 22 major league games and 69 plate appearances with the Chicago Cubs from 2022-23.
He was claimed off waivers by St. Louis in November 2023 and batted .285 with 11 homers and a .917 OPS at Triple-A Memphis this year before being released by the Cardinals in July.
Young then played 38 games for the Doosan Bears in Korea, hitting .326 with 10 homers, 39 RBIs and a 1.080 OPS.
A left-handed hitter, the 29-year-old Young was born in Canada and selected by the Cubs in the 15th round of the 2017 amateur draft out of Old Dominion in Virginia.
All 12 of his big league starts have come at first base. He has played every position in the minors except catcher and center field.