In a Wednesday release, Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti has announced the hiring of 10 assistant coaches and the head of the Hoosiers strength and conditioning program.
Cignetti’s first coaching staff in Bloomington will feature seven members of his James Madison staff, one member of the 2023 Indiana coaching staff, and three coaches that will work with Cignetti for the first time. The list includes:
Bryant Haines – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Mike Shanahan – Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers
Grant Cain – Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends
Tino Sunseri – Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Ola Adams – Safeties/Defensive Backs
Bob Bostad – Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line
Pat Kuntz – Defensive Tackles
John Miller – Running Backs
Rod Ojong – Cornerbacks
Buddha Williams – Defensive Ends
Derek Owings – Strength & Conditioning
They’re official! ⚪️🔴🏈
Meet the coaching staff.
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) December 13, 2023
Full bios for each coach can be found by clicking here.
Here are more details on each member of the staff, via the IU release:
Bryant Haines – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
A 2023 Broyles Award semifinalist, Haines begins his second stint at Indiana and will lead the defense for Cignetti for the third-straight season. Haines spent five seasons on staff at James Madison and coached with Cignetti at Elon (2017-18) and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2014-15).
In each of his first four seasons at JMU (2019-23), the Dukes ranked top 10 nationally in total defense. His unit sat among the top 10 in the FCS in scoring defense while ranking top 25 in the program’s first two FBS seasons in 2022 and 2023. Eight defenders earned All-America honors during his five seasons in the Shenandoah Valley with linebacker Dimitri Holloway earning second-team honors in 2019.
Mike Shanahan – Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers
Shanahan was Cignetti’s offensive coordinator in his final three seasons at James Madison and will serve in the same role at IU. Each of Shanahan’s eight seasons as a full-time on-field coach have been spent on Cignetti’s staff and each of the last three seasons have featured conference players of the year.
His Dukes offenses produced two All-America selections at wide receiver and six of his pupils earned all-conference honors. The 2023 James Madison offense led the Sun Belt in offensive efficiency though the regular season and finished No. 29 in the FBS in total offense (430.2 ypg). Quarterback Jordan McCloud was named Sun Belt Player of the Year and wideouts Reggie Brown and Elijah Sarratt were each tabbed first-team all-conference.
Grant Cain – Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends
With 21 seasons of collegiate coaching experience, Cian joins Cignetti at IU after five seasons on staff at James Madison. Cain served as Cignetti’s special teams coordinator all five seasons with the Dukes and tutored three All-Americans, four All-Sun Belt Conference picks, and nine All-Colonial Athletic Association selections during that span.
In 2021, James Madison led the FCS in field goals per game (2.07) while ranking fourth in kick-return average (26.5) and field goal percentage (.906), seventh in kickoff-return defense (15.25), eighth in punt-return defense (3.7), 12th in blocked punts (2), and 20th in net punt average (38.8).
Tino Sunseri – Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Sunseri produced three-straight conference player of the year honorees in three seasons at James Madison and begins his first coordinator role as the co-offensive coordinator at IU. In just three seasons as an on-field assistant coach, he has quickly established a reputation for developing quarterbacks and as a high-level recruiter.
In three seasons tutoring the quarterbacks in Harrisonburg, Sunseri’s pupils averaged 3,400 yards passing, 32 touchdown passes, and 256 completions per season. With 21 rushing scores added, the trio accounted for 119 touchdowns in three years (19.8 points per game).
Ola Adams – Safeties/Defensive Backs
Adams owns 15 seasons of experience across college and professional football, with 11 seasons coaching defensive backs after an all-conference career at Concord (W.Va.) University. He has tutored at least one all-conference honoree in all but one season dating back to 2009.
Most recently, Adams served as a defensive analyst and analytics coordinator for the nation’s No. 1 defense at Penn State and his last on-field role came with the Denver Broncos in 2022. In three seasons as defensive coordinator at Villanova, Adams defenses created 50 takeaways over that span.
Bob Bostad – Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line
The lone coach to return from Indiana’s 2023 staff, Bostad owns 26 years of experience coaching the offensive line at the collegiate and professional levels. He has tutored numerous All-Americans on the offensive line, at linebacker and tight end, while he has seen 20 pupils drafted to the NFL, which includes nine offensive linemen.
In his first season at Indiana, Bostad helped the offensive line to its best season grade since 2017 according to Pro Football Focus and allowed just 16 sacks on the season after 26 during the 2022 season. Center Zach Carpenter earned honorable mention All-Big Ten at season’s end.
Pat Kuntz – Defensive Tackles
The 247sports All-Assistant Team pick as the defensive line coach, his defensive front created havoc during his two seasons at JMU. All-Americans Jalen Green and Isaac Ukwu led a group of seven All-Sun Belt picks and his 2023 defensive line featured two first-team and two second-team All-SBC picks, which included Green as the 2023 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year.
The Dukes success at the point of attack showed during its first two seasons at the FBS level. A nation’s best rushing defense (61.5 ypg) was bolstered by an FBS-best 9.1 tackles for loss per game in 2023. In 2022, JMU sat No. 2 in both categories at 79.5 rushing yards allowed per game and 8.6 tackles for loss.
John Miller – Running Backs
Miller played for two seasons under Cignetti at James Madison and spent five of the past seven seasons on his staff. The 2017 Colonial Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Year spent one season as a graduate assistant (2018) and four seasons (2021-23) as Cignetti’s running backs coach.
Miller’s running backs room averaged 175.6 yards per game and 1.9 touchdowns per game over 45 games under his watch. Six Dukes running backs eclipsed 500 yards rushing in a season and his group rushed for over 2,000 yards twice.
Rod Ojong – Cornerbacks
Ojong has tutored defensive backs in each of his last five on-field coaching stops and made a stop as a quality control coach at Georgia in 2020. In one season at Charlotte, Ojong helped Dontae Balfour to third-team All-American Athletic Conference honors.
Ojong made an impact in two seasons at Buffalo (2021-22) and tutored Marcus Fuqua to first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2022 after leading the FBS in interceptions (7). His seven interceptions were the most in a single season for a Bull since 1986.
Buddha Williams – Defensive Ends
In his first season on Cignetti’s staff, Williams joins Indiana after two seasons at Colorado State where he tutored Mohamed Kamara to 2023 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors. Kamara led the Mountain West with a program-record 13.0 sacks and 17.0 tackles for loss in 2023.
Prior to CSU, Williams had a five-year stay at North Dakota State (2017-21) that netted a 66-5 record, four national titles, and three All-American defensive linemen. The Bison won the 2017-19 and 2021 national titles, with Greg Menard (2018), Derrek Tuszka (2019), and Brayden Thomas (2021) each named All-America under Williams.
Derek Owings – Strength & Conditioning
Ownings followed Cignetti to Indiana from James Madison where he served in the same role for four seasons. He spent two seasons at Texas Tech (2019-20) as the associate strength & conditioning coach and one year as assistant director of sports performance with football at UCF.
Owings helped the Dukes to a 38-7 overall record in his four seasons and trained 15 All-America selections. He developed defensive lineman Mike Greene reach finalist status for the Buck Buchanan Award – FCS national defensive player of the year – in 2020, and quarterback Cole Johnson finish No. 4 in the voting for the Walter Payton Award – FCS national player of the year – in 2021.
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