Author: Seth Tow

Curt Cignetti is fully with Indiana. The Hoosiers’ new head football coach, upon being hired, was reportedly going to coach the James Madison team he departed in its bowl game. But Cignetti walked that back a bit during his introductory press conference, suggesting it could depend on how quickly JMU gets a new coach in place. Then, on Sunday, JMU announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that assistant head coach Damian Wroblewski will serve as acting head coach for the Armed Forces Bowl. Cignetti, at the IU press conference, said his attention would be split around 90 percent IU,…

BLOOMINGTON — After playing a sluggish first half on Wednesday at Maine, Indiana women’s basketball came alive much earlier against Stetson on Sunday. The Hoosiers pulled away in the first quarter and rolled to a 72-34 win at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana (7-1) shot a blistering 69 percent from the field in the first quarter, as Stetson (2-7) just had no answers for really anything IU did offensively. The Hoosiers led 24-9 at the end of the opening period. The Hoosiers lit up the Hatters in transition all game, with 24 fastbreak points and 17 points off turnovers. Meanwhile,…

BLOOMINGTON — Listen to new Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti speak for just a few moments, and it doesn’t take long to feel the confidence oozing from his voice. The 17,222 fans in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Friday evening witnessed it firsthand during the first half of IU men’s basketball’s win over Maryland. It takes a certain level of bravado to get on a microphone in front of a big arena full of people and say “Purdue sucks. So do Michigan and Ohio State,” the way Cignetti did. That moment went viral — an Indiana football coach talking like…

One of the biggest items on Curt Cignetti’s early to-do list as he gets going at IU is assembling his staff. Reports surfaced Friday of his intention to bring several coaches from his James Madison staff along with him to Bloomington. The other side of this equation is determining which existing Indiana staff members, if any, will stay around, and which won’t. Per reports on Saturday, that’s also coming into focus. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach Kasey Teegardin will not be retained. Then, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg expanded to say “most of Indiana’s previous coaching staff…

BLOOMINGTON — Kel’el Ware has answered a lot of questions through his first month playing for Indiana men’s basketball. The biggest storyline entering IU’s season was how the Hoosiers would adapt with a new-look roster and program stalwart Trayce Jackson-Davis gone. Ware was one of the biggest keys, stepping into Jackson-Davis’ center spot. But they’re different players, and there was a level of uncertainty over his true fit with Indiana and whether he could hang with some of the difficult big men in the Big Ten. Since the season began, Ware has been IU’s best player. And on Friday, the…

Indiana women’s basketball’s game against Maine on Thursday may have felt like a dream for Gorham, Maine native Mackenzie Holmes and her family going in. But it quickly started to feel like a nightmare for the 17th-ranked Hoosiers. They put on an extremely poor display in the first half, one of their worst performances in a long time. IU trailed Maine 37-29 at halftime. The Hoosiers struggled defensively, got out-rebounded by the Black Bears, and shot just 34 percent as a team on the other end. But IU regrouped enough in the second half to get the job done, thanks…

There may not be any white smoke emerging from Memorial Stadium, but Indiana football has its new leader. The Hoosiers are finalizing a deal with James Madison’s Curt Cignetti as their new head coach, wrapping up a relatively quick coaching search. IU announced Tom Allen’s firing on Sunday, and found his successor in less than a week. Cignetti, 62, owns a 119-35 career record as a head coach, across three stops. He spent five years with JMU, where he went 52-9. The Dukes competed in the FCS during his first three years, and they won CAA titles in all three seasons.…

Mackenzie Holmes has never been shy about where she’s from. Whether subtly or loudly, she wears her Gorham, Maine roots on her sleeve every time she takes the floor for Indiana women’s basketball. The graduate student is a small-town product — Gorham’s population is a little over 18,000, more than four times smaller than Bloomington’s. She’s enjoyed a standout IU career, with a strong chance of becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer, but she was already a star back in Maine. On Thursday, her worlds will collide. The Hoosiers are taking on Maine at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, around…

This is the third in a series of profiles of potential candidates for Indiana’s vacant football head coaching position.  Candidate: Tom Herman Age: 48 Current Position/Tenure: Head coach at Florida Atlantic, former Texas and Houston head coach Record as Head Coach: 58-30 Previous Jobs Year Program Position Record Conference Standing Bowls National Rank Coaches/AP 1998 Texas Lutheran Wide Receivers 4-6 1999 Texas Graduate Assistant 9-5 2000 Texas Graduate Assistant 8-4 2001 Sam Houston Wide Receivers/Special Teams 10-3 Playoffs FCS Quarterfinalist 2002 Sam Houston Wide Receivers/Special Teams 4-7 2003 Sam Houston Wide Receivers/Special Teams 2-9 2004 Sam Houston Wide Receivers/Special Teams 11-3…

Mackenzie Mgbako came to Indiana men’s basketball this year as one of the highest-rated commits in program history. But the start to his freshman season had been difficult, in several ways. He was arrested at a Taco Bell in Bloomington in late October, which didn’t lead to any suspension from IU head coach Mike Woodson. And on the court, he just didn’t quite settle in through the first five games. Mgbako particularly struggled defensively, and wasn’t producing enough offensively to make up for it. He’d scored in double-figures just once, against Wright State — and that was the only game…