Following the money might lead to riches and success in big-time college football, but Curt Cignetti had other pursuits. At age 50, he is finally a head coach. Also, he said, "I get to go home and cut the grass."

Coaching perks usually don't include mowing the lawn. But as Cignetti, the son of a coach and brother of another coach, acknowledged in January after he was hired at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, "It's a little bit of a different move."

IUP belongs to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and competes at the NCAA Division II level. When Cignetti took the job, he also took a pay cut of more than half of what he made at Alabama.

Cignetti's salary of $120,000 includes a few extras, like a car. It is enough to provide a comfortable living for himself and his family. Only one other nonprofessor PSAC football coach, John Luckhardt of California University of Pennsylvania, makes more.

Still, as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Alabama last season, Cignetti made about $320,000 in base salary, incentive bonuses and other benefits.

At several college football powers, including Alabama, the head coach is the university's highest-paid employee. At IUP, Cignetti doesn't even make the top 20. His salary is slightly lower than that of men's basketball coach Joe Lombardi. But there are reasons beyond a paycheck for being here, like starting a new life and disengaging from the old one.

"Money doesn't buy happiness, and it comes with a price," Cignetti said. "I just felt like, with not many days off, I was gone a lot, working a lot of late hours. I felt I was becoming disconnected a little bit from my family.

"We won the national championship (after the 2009 season), kind of a top-of-the-mountain thing. It was like, 'What else can we do?' And I always wanted to be a head coach. And this opportunity came along. Things just worked out. I was ready for a change."

He got that, all right.

Fourth-and-1

Cignetti sits behind the same desk his father used. Over two decades, Frank Cignetti Sr. built IUP into a PSAC power. The office is bare bones, tucked inside the old gym building. It could use the paint job promised last summer.

Many of Cignetti's photos and other memorabilia are still packed away, but not a framed picture of All-American receiver Julio Jones, the Atlanta Falcons' No. 1 draft pick last spring and a top NFL rookie. The inscription reads, "Thank you for making me the man I am today." A bookcase holds several Alabama playbooks and game plans, bound in red with opponents' logos like Georgia's big G and the blocky letters LSU.

On Saturday, IUP played Clarion.

The Crimson Hawks are worlds apart from the Crimson Tide.

"There's certainly an adjustment," Cignetti said. "And it doesn't happen overnight. And there were times it was a difficult adjustment — the things you took for granted in Division I, being used to the packed stadiums and stuff like that — but, still, there's the ability to go home and spend time at home. Not as much pressure to win. But I still put pressure on myself."

During Cignetti's four years on Nick Saban's staff, the Tide won 29 straight regular-season games and the 2009 national championship. However college football success is measured — wins, money, fan interest — Alabama is at or near the top. Legendary coach Bear Bryant, who died almost 29 years ago, still casts a giant shadow over the state. Fans show up in RVs for home games days in advance. The spring game in 2007 drew more than 92,000. (IUP's George P. Miller Stadium holds 6,000.)

"The place was so electric," Cignetti said.

Such an environment also means obsessive scrutiny and molten passions, not even counting the 'Bama fan accused of killing those trees at Auburn. The stakes are enormous, especially in recruiting, where cutthroat tactics are standard and the Internet and TV make everyone an expert. Alabama is one of several schools that often signs more players than allowed — an unseemly but common practice — and even that sort of thing has its own website.

"When you recruit in the SEC, there are a lot of land mines," Cignetti said.

There was that, and the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. workdays. Cignetti and his wife, Manette, have three children, and family time was just a theory. He said he frequently awoke at 3:30 or 4 a.m. for no apparent reason. At IUP, he usually gets to his office about 7:30 a.m. and stays past 9 p.m. a few times a week, but there are days when is home by 6:30 p.m. He said he sleeps much better now.

"Alabama's a great job," he said. "It might be the best job in college football. Football is the show in the state. You're like a rock star down there. But recruiting, the pressure, there are not many days off."

After winning the national championship, "we didn't have a lot of time to celebrate," he said. "There's pressure to win it all every year now. You go 12-1, 13-1, No. 2 in the country, there would be a lot of disappointed people."

Cignetti said he is not complaining. These are the facts. "Everybody wants it now, and there's a lot of money involved," he said.

Saban, the highest-paid coach in college athletics at nearly $6 million a year, is known as a perfectionist. Of the five assistants, including Cignetti, who joined Saban in his first season, 2007, two remain on the full-time staff. Cignetti said he had a year left on his contract.

Asked if he was getting burned out at Alabama, Cignetti mulled the question.

"Maybe I was," he said. "I mean, Nick's got that reputation: Going through a lot of coaches. Pretty demanding. Not a lot of family time. Not a lot of laughs and giggles in the office. Pretty much every day is sort of 4th-and-1."

But there was also the charged atmosphere, the best-of-everything facilities and, of course, the big money (although he didn't have billboards with his picture, proclaiming "A New Era"). At Alabama, the team not only got police escorts to the airport and stadiums but also to the weekly Friday night movie. At IUP, players are on their own Friday nights. Cignetti hopes for the best.

Figuring it out

One of Cignetti's daughters, Carly, is a freshman at IUP. Another, Natalie, attends Indiana Area High School. Instead of spending time on recruiting missions, Cignetti watches her play volleyball. He said he got to see his son, Curtis, play high school football in Alabama only a few times. Now Curtis, a sophomore at Duquesne, roams the sidelines on Saturdays. Cignetti's parents live nearby. Manette is back home where she grew up. There is yard work.

"I forgot how rigorous it is to cut the grass," Cignetti said. "It's gotten harder as I've gotten older."

While he was head coach at West Virginia in the late 1970s, Frank Cignetti Sr. had cancer. It was serious.

"There is no doubt in my mind it was stress-related," said Curt Cignetti, a former Mountaineers quarterback. "Then he came here and had a great experience and really enjoyed it. Working all those hours, all those days on the road, I would sort of say to somebody, 'I think he got it figured out.' "

Cignetti spent 28 years as an assistant coach at various places, including Pitt, where he worked for Johnny Majors and Walt Harris. At North Carolina State, he recruited quarterback Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin for his final season and might win the Heisman Trophy this season.

As he approached the big 5-0, Cignetti, who was born in Pittsburgh, had come to a career crossroads and a decision about the rest of his life. "I wanted to be a head coach," he said. "I think I was tired of being an assistant coach, tired of taking the orders. I kind of wanted to give 'em."

He was a top candidate for the head job at Kent State but didn't feel "comfortable" with it. IUP clearly was the better fit, he said. Cignetti replaced Lou Tepper, whose contract was not renewed after an 11-11 record with declining attendance the last two years.

"We're trying to lay the foundation of a championship program," Cignetti said. "My dad played for the national championship twice and came up short. My goal is to take it one step further."

IUP defeated Clarion, 38-7, on Saturday. Its record is 4-2.

Cignetti inherited his father's desk and his legacy. Frank Cignetti Sr. coached IUP to a 182-50-1 record from 1986 to 2005, dominating the league to such an extent that the PSAC created the "IUP rule" to bring about more competitiveness. The rule reduced the number of scholarships conference teams could offer but was revoked in 2009, and now IUP lags a bit behind. Curt Cignetti said the program is committed to closing the gap, which will require considerable fundraising and support. State money does not pay for football scholarships.

Money was never an issue at Alabama, where the recruiting budget alone is about five times more than the entire IUP football budget. The school currently has an interim president, but IUP athletic director Frank Condino said regardless of who gets the job, football should flourish.

"It takes more than just money," said Condino, a longtime friend of the Cignetti family. "We have a university we're selling."

He added, "It wasn't so much convincing (Cignetti) as laying out all the facts, the potential. It was, 'Here are the opportunities.' I really feel strongly about IUP, and having seen the success his father had, I feel strongly there is a lot there. This is a very unique opportunity for IUP."

Happy birthday

Cignetti's younger brother, Frank Jr., a longtime assistant, worked for their father at IUP before moving on to the NFL and several college programs. He was Pitt's offensive coordinator for two years under Dave Wannstedt, who resigned under pressure after the 2010 season.

Frank Jr. now has the same job at Rutgers, which blasted Pitt, 34-10, last week.

The same day, IUP rallied to beat Mercyhurst after losing starting quarterback Mike Box to injury. Backup Pat Smith led the Crimson Hawks 73 yards in the final 47 seconds to tie the game, and IUP won in overtime.

"I think he's established a good mindset with the players," Frank Sr. said of his son. "I like their whole tempo, the organization and structure. I believe they're on the right track."

The two wins helped Frank Sr. celebrate his 74th birthday. He regularly visits IUP practices, though says, "I'm strictly an observer."

This was news to Curt. He laughed and said, "Sometimes I have to walk to the other end of the field."

Nick Saban once coached for Frank Cignetti Sr. at West Virginia, and Curt Cignetti said both men are big influences. "I think I was well-trained to do this," he said. "Especially the last four years with Nick because he was so organized and detailed. He had the blueprint."

Game day at IUP is nothing like at Alabama. "Not even close," Cignetti said. "But once the game starts, it's no different for me. We brought I don't know how many fans to Mercyhurst. And our band was there, and the fans were into it. The kids on the sidelines were into it. It felt the same to me.

"These guys love to play," he said. "And let me tell you, they play with as much passion as they do in the SEC. These kids on the field cut it loose. It's every bit as important to them. And we celebrate the wins just as much. Or more."

Additional Information:

Through the years

Here is a look at Curt Cignetti's football career:

1979-1982: Quarterback, West Virginia

1983-84: Graduate assistant, Pitt

1985: Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach, Davidson

1986-88: Quarterbacks coach, Rice

1989-92: Quarterbacks coach, Temple

1993-99: Quarterbacks and tight ends coach, Pitt

2000-06: Quarterbacks and tight ends coach, recruiting coordinator, North Carolina State

2007-10: Wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, Alabama

2011: Head coach, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---