Trump says Indiana football was 'underestimated… not anymore' during White House visit
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The 2025 national champion Indiana Hoosiers football team visited The White House on Monday, May 11, to commemorate the program’s first championship.
The Hoosiers are coming off a perfect 16-0 season capped off with a 27-21 win over Miami in the CFP national title game — a game President Donald Trump attended.
“I watched that game. I watched these guys,” Trump said Monday. “They can play, they can play. And they were a little underestimated, but I just said not anymore… they were incredibly talented.”
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza was not in Washington D.C with the team as he’s participating in Las Vegas Raiders rookie minicamp after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in last month’s NFL Draft.
“I’m on the bottom of the totem pole here. I’ve got to prove myself,” Mendoza told reporters May 2. “I can’t miss practice. I don’t have the calendar, but as a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I want to try to best serve my teammates, and I don’t know if that’d be accomplishing that goal.”
Trump said Mendoza called him to let him know why he wouldn’t be in attendance.
“He’s at spring training, like his first day or something,” Trump said. “I said, ‘You better go there.’ … Otherwise, if I didn’t do that, believe me I wouldn’t have even talked about him, if he was not here for other reasons, like he didn’t like Trump or didn’t want to come, I wouldn’t have even mentioned him… I wouldn’t even mention the quarterback’s name. But he’s a great guy, and he is actually a great fan of what we’re doing for our country.”
Trump also praised Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti, who has turned Indiana from the sport’s doormat to the penthouse.
“Curt Cignetti, I believe, is the coach of the last decade,” Trump said. “He took a team, nobody knew him, nobody knew the team, and he ended up taking this team all the way. People were betting against you all the way, Curt.”
Mendoza wasn’t the only Hoosier not in attendance because of NFL rookie camps. Trump praised Rose Bowl MVP Pat Coogan and Peach Bowl star D’Angelo Ponds, only to find they weren’t standing behind him.
“Where’s Pat Coogan?”
Training camp.
“Where’s D’Angelo Ponds?”
Training camp.
“No wonder you won,” Trump quipped.
Trump asked Cignetti if he felt the Hoosiers could repeat as champions in 2026.
“We’ve got a chance if we commit, have great discipline, and if we can handle success, and we can handle failure, and we’re consistent, day in, day out, we may have a chance,” Cignetti said.
To which Trump responded, “Is he central casting or what?”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Indiana football visits White House to celebrate national championship
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