Scott Dolson only had a few days to act. It was the fall of 2023, Indiana had finished yet another dismal football season, this one 3–9. And it left Dolson, the school’s athletic director, seeking both answers and a new head coach.
He interviewed candidates by phone and Zoom. When it came time to speak with Curt Cignetti, then the head coach at James Madison, Dolson heard an earnest, prepared, no-bulls--- football lifer. But he also heard the echoes of a former Indiana coach.
