What to know about Curt Cignetti Alabama football past before Rose Bowl
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Curt Cignetti’s final stop as an assistant came in Tuscaloosa.
After stints at Pittsburgh, Davidson, Temple and NC State, Cignetti joined Nick Saban’s first coaching staff at Alabama football, working as the team’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007-11.
Cignetti will get his first try at beating Alabama Thursday, Jan. 1, when Indiana, the top-seeded team in the College Football Playoff, takes on No. 9 Alabama in the CFP quarterfinal at the 2026 Rose Bowl.
Here’s what you need to know about Cignetti’s time with the Crimson Tide:
Where did Curt Cignetti’s Alabama football tie come from?
Cignetti joined Saban’s first staff at Alabama in 2007 after spending seven seasons as a recruiting coordinator, tight ends coach and quarterbacks coach at NC State.
But Cignetti’s connection with Saban began well before he was hired.
Saban was hired by Frank Cignetti, Curt’s father, at West Virginia as a defensive backs coach. Saban worked on Frank Cignetti’s final two Mountaineers staffs in 1978 and 1979 before he left for a defensive backs coaching position at Ohio State in 1980.
Curt Cignetti coached Julio Jones at Alabama
Three of Curt Cignetti’s five seasons at Alabama came in the same position room as a Crimson Tide legend.
Cignetti was Julio Jones’ wide receivers coach at Alabama from 2008-10. In three seasons with the Crimson Tide, Jones had 179 catches for 2,653 yards and 17 touchdowns. Jones was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2008 and was named as a second-team All-American in 2010.
With Cignetti, Alabama’s offense never averaged less than 27.1 points per game and peaked in 2010 with 35.7 points per game — 18th best in college football.
Curt Cignetti led multiple top-five Alabama football recruiting classes
Cignetti was at the forefront of a top-tier recruiting showcase early in the Saban era at Alabama.
Cignetti, who also worked as Alabama’s recruiting coordinator, led five top-five recruiting classes nationally, including the top-ranked classes in 2011 and 2012, one he started before becoming the head coach at Indiana University Pennsylvania (IUP).
In Cignetti’s tenure, Alabama landed players such as Jones, running backs Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, quarterbacks AJ McCarron and Blake Sims, linebacker CJ Mosley and safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix.
Curt Cignetti won two national championships at Alabama
Cignetti won a lot of games when he was at Alabama.
In his five seasons with the Crimson Tide, Alabama finished with a 55-12 record, including an undefeated 2009 campaign.
With Cignetti on staff, Alabama secured BCS Championship wins against Texas (2009) and LSU (2011).
Curt Cignetti turned Alabama job into college football head coaching gig
Cignetti turned a successful run at Alabama into a string of head coaching jobs.
Cignetti first followed in the footsteps of his father, Frank, and spent six seasons at the head coaching at IUP before spending two seasons at Elon.
Cignetti jumped to FCS football in 2019 and led James Madison to 29 wins in 34 games. Once James Madison made the jump to the Sun Belt in 2022, Cignetti continued to win, including an 11-1 2023 season.
At Indiana, Cignetti has a 24-2 record and two CFP appearances.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What to know about Curt Cignetti Alabama past before Rose Bowl vs Indiana
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