BLOOMINGTON – On Thursday night, Curt Cignetti will have his first celebration since taking office, which itself marks the climate change he brought to Indiana.
The Hoosiers will host Cignetti's first game of the spring on Thursday at Memorial Stadium. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and the offense (Crimson) takes on the defense (Cream). Kickoff is at 8 p.m. The scoring system gives him four points for a turnover and three points for a defensive stop, in addition to all the usual points from a safety to a touchdown.
Most notably, this will be the first time in five years that IU football will host a spring game.
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It remains to be seen what kind of turnout the Hoosiers will receive. Timing the game to coincide with the Little 500 weekend sometimes worked to the program's advantage. Sometimes it's not. Mr. Cignetti will take note of what works and what doesn't on Thursday. He is already talking about a broader re-evaluation of the spring season schedule.
But the sheer notion of inviting fans in for a free look at what Cininetti and his staff have managed so far is a departure from recent procedure. It should not be overlooked.
Some of this was forced due to the coronavirus. The 2020 spring season was cut short by the shutdown, and 2021 had to be adjusted to fit protocols. In 2022, Tom Allen completely reworked his roster and was reluctant to show his new team on film any more than necessary during the spring game. And by last year, IU was opting for something more casual and fan-driven in an effort to regain momentum for the show, which had been in the doldrums.
Cininetti's emergence, combined with his pull-no-punch attitude, has re-enchanted a previously disaffected fan base at nearly every level.
Overall ticket sales are up 8% compared to this time a year ago. Sales are up in 14 of Indiana's 15 ticket price ranges, and with eight home games this fall, IU could see windfall attendance (and associated revenue). I'm looking forward to it.
NIL's fundraising efforts, whose leadership search last year had already highlighted the need to make the job more attractive, received an even bigger boost from donors' energy in response to Cininetti's early success. I received it. Indiana had spent $3 million on its football-specific NIL efforts by the time Cinetti was hired. Although exact figures are difficult to pin down, it is understood that his resources in the field have since expanded significantly beyond that figure.
Business performance is increasing in areas such as temporary staffing, recruitment, and portal operations. Wins and losses are the ultimate currency, but Cignetti has done well enough so far to earn not just goodwill but the genuine excitement that will come Thursday night.
This gives meaning to the event itself. Since taking over late last year, Cininetti has made major changes to the new program in virtually every conceivable way. Probably not the most important thing, but definitely important. He returned to a fan base fed up with both an inconsistent and frustrating three years and the weight of a history riddled with too many wasteful acts.
Functionally, Saturday is just the next step in Cininetti's journey towards his first season playing on the Memorial Stadium sideline. While the Spring Games themselves serve a specific purpose, it is clear that they are by no means the end of the journey.
This event would be a little more meaningful, even if it had more participants. For Indiana football, it's a physical manifestation of the atmosphere changed by the bold personality of a new coach who has never seen a losing season in the 13 years he has run the program and has no intention of breaking that trend this fall. It is.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
