NEW: Nick Saban on Curt Cignetti to On3's Chris Low: “I remember him telling me where he was going, IUP, and thinking that’s a big drop from coaching in the SEC. But he wanted to be a head coach. ...it tells you a lot about the belief he had in himself that he would take a job at that level at a place that hadn’t had great success. But that’s what he’s done his whole career, take programs that weren’t football hotbeds and turn them into winners.”
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Last night during the game, the announcers said Cignetti took a pay cut from $300K per year to $150K per year to go to IUP in order to show what he could do as a head coach. They said his wife said "you're gonna do WHAT???".
Cignetti signed an 8 year deal with Indiana at $11.6 million per year, through 2033. He's 64 now, doubt he goes to 2033, but he's there as long as he wants to be. Sometimes you have to take a detour, a step back to show what you can do with more responsibility, in order to move forward.