Curt Cignetti credits Nick Saban for coaching acumen ahead of Indiana-Alabama in College Football Playoff

One of Nick Saban's forgotten coaching disciples prior to his magical two-year run at Indiana, Curt Cignetti credits the Alabama legend with helping him set up his own process behind the scenes as the leader of a program while instituting principles that have led to sizable wins.

As the anchor of the top-seeded and unbeaten Hoosiers entering next week's College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup with the Crimson Tide at the Rose Bowl, Cignetti has not forgotten his early roots in the coaching ranks.

"[He's a] real important part of my journey," Cignetti said Monday. "[I] learned a lot from Coach Saban in terms of organization and standards. I wouldn't be where I am today without my time under Nick. My family really enjoyed Tuscaloosa."

Cut from the same no BS cloth as Saban, Cignetti reportedly flourished in a "sink-or-swim environment" as an assistant coach and recruiting advisor at Alabama in 2007 and it was there he saw what turned out to be the makings of an eventual college football dynasty.

In fact, it was Cignetti who was the lead recruiter for future Alabama Heisman winner Mark Ingram, the running back who helped the Crimson Tide to the first of six national titles under Saban in 2009.

"He was knowledgeable about recruiting and knew everybody on the board because he was sending us out," former Alabama running backs coach Burton Burns told CBS Sports' John Talty last year. "He was built for the job, it was in his DNA. He knew how to do all those things. He was really good on the road. I went on the road a few times with him, and he was really good with coaches and the family of those kids."

Alabama was Cignetti's third coaching stop in the Power conference ranks and he spent five years on Saban's offensive staff before becoming a head coach for the first time at IUP in 2011. After turning that program around and finding success at Elon and James Madison, Indiana took a chance of Cignetti ahead of the 2024 campaign and he's done the rest.

Cignetti's won 24 of his first 26 games with the Hoosiers entering the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl and pushed Indiana to its first outright Big Ten title since 1945 this season. Cignetti has another Heisman winner to boot in quarterback Fernando Mendoza, whom he plucked out of the transfer portal from California last cycle and has watched the 6-foot-5 junior throw for 2,980 yards and 33 touchdowns this fall.

The transfer portal has been Cignetti's primary strength at Indiana, according to Saban.

"I think when you're having that many changes on your roster every year, you have to do a fantastic job of evaluation, which Curt Cignetti has done that so far," Saban said earlier this season on College GameDay. "I don't think you could change a program as quickly as he has Indiana, especially one that doesn't have a tradition of success and culture as a football program without transfer portal.

"We need new players, quick players. We need to be able to do this quickly. And he brought a bunch of players from his old school that knew his culture and how he wanted to do it. And got a quarterback in there that could make some plays. Now he has an even better quarterback, in my opinion."

On the heels of consecutive top-30 portal signing classes where player evaluation was paramount, Cignetti says his sales pitch at Indiana is unique -- and awfully blunt.

"I used to tell them everybody can't play for the Yankees, man," Cignetti said earlier this season. "I mean, that's the way it is. So don't come here if this is not what you want to do, because the standard is high. The commitment has got to be high."