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Has Nick Saban's Beef with Curt Cignetti been explained?
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:43 pm
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:43 pm
What's going on here? Cig was on Saban"s staff, never promoted, never put on a path and endorsed for D1 HC coaching jobs like all other Saban assistants.
Curt Cignetti's Dad gave Saban his first Coaching job in CFB and was some kind of mentor.
On College Gameday this year, Saban picked:
Illinois over Indiana
Oregon over Indiana
Ohio State over Indiana
Alabama over Indiana
Miami over Indiana
And never gave any praise to Indiana and Cignetti.
Curt Cignetti's Dad gave Saban his first Coaching job in CFB and was some kind of mentor.
On College Gameday this year, Saban picked:
Illinois over Indiana
Oregon over Indiana
Ohio State over Indiana
Alabama over Indiana
Miami over Indiana
And never gave any praise to Indiana and Cignetti.
This post was edited on 1/27/26 at 1:06 pm
16
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:46 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Is there a confirmed beef?
All of those picks seem logical without hindsight.
October 2025 article highlighting Saban on Pat's show praising Cignetti
si.com article
All of those picks seem logical without hindsight.
October 2025 article highlighting Saban on Pat's show praising Cignetti
si.com article
This post was edited on 1/27/26 at 12:48 pm
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:49 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
3/4 of them picked Miami... pretty wild after what Indiana had done to Alabama and Oregon.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:50 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
Illinois over Indiana Oregon over Indiana Ohio State over Indiana
I’m fairly certain all of these teams were favored over Indiana.
quote:
Alabama over Indiana
This is self explanatory
quote:
Miami over Indiana
Everyone on the panel except for Pat picked Miami.
None of those picks were outlandish.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:51 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
What beef? Some of yall just make shite up.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 12:56 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
There is no beef.
Bull shite. He was on Pat McAfee Show almost weekly talking about how great Cignetti is at Indiana.
You’re simply basing this off of his gameday picks & I say “simply” as in you are simple minded.
quote:
And never gave any praise to Indiana and Cignetti.
Bull shite. He was on Pat McAfee Show almost weekly talking about how great Cignetti is at Indiana.
You’re simply basing this off of his gameday picks & I say “simply” as in you are simple minded.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:14 pm to JimTiger72
Go look at who represents all the coaches Saban picked. I'd bet they are all Jimmy Sexton clients and Cig simply does not play that game.
He has a lawyer from Birmingham that handles all his work and, judging by his contract at Indiana, he is quite good at his job and does not have to get in bed with a scumbag snake like Sexton.
Saban and Gameday is all theatrics for a thinly-veiled Jimmy Sexton propaganda piece.
Cig is not and will not be a Sexton. McAfee is not either.
It's no coincidence that the only guy picking Indiana the entire post-season, when it was clear Hossiers were the best team, was not a Sexton client.
Once you see it, you won't unsee it.
He has a lawyer from Birmingham that handles all his work and, judging by his contract at Indiana, he is quite good at his job and does not have to get in bed with a scumbag snake like Sexton.
Saban and Gameday is all theatrics for a thinly-veiled Jimmy Sexton propaganda piece.
Cig is not and will not be a Sexton. McAfee is not either.
It's no coincidence that the only guy picking Indiana the entire post-season, when it was clear Hossiers were the best team, was not a Sexton client.
Once you see it, you won't unsee it.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:19 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
What's going on here? Cig was on Saban"s staff, never promoted, never put on a path and endorsed for D1 HC coaching jobs like all other Saban assistants.
He was on Saban's staff for 3 years.
Cig has said that he learned more in those 3 years than the previous 25 regarding how to run a program. Cig at Bama year one wasn't the coach that he was at the end of year 3, which is when he decided that he wanted to go run a program himself, and he damn sure wasn't the coach that is now.
Knowing all that, what kind of trajectory do you think that Cig should have been on while he was at Bama? How do you even know what kind of "path" Saban had in mind for him? What other current head coaches from the Saban tree were endorsed as a D1 HC by year 3 under his tutelage?
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:25 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
Go look at who represents all the coaches Saban picked. I'd bet they are all Jimmy Sexton clients and Cig simply does not play that game.
3 out of the 5 teams he listed have coaches whose agents are not Sexton...
quote:
It's no coincidence that the only guy picking Indiana the entire post-season, when it was clear Hossiers were the best team, was not a Sexton client.
Or maybe its because he spent his entire NFL career in Indiana and has a fondness for the state and its schools?
This post was edited on 1/27/26 at 1:36 pm
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:39 pm to LSUBoo
quote:
3/4 of them picked Miami... pretty wild after what Indiana had done to Alabama and Oregon.
And yet, Indiana needed Miami to give them the game by missing a field goal and electing not to attempt to block on a punt. Miami was not a crazy pick - could have easily won the game.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:41 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Where’s the beef 
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:43 pm to ChEgrad
Ya I don't know what was "wild" about it.
Indiana and Miami had a common opponent that each team played relatively recently and late in the season, that Miami played better against. Miami was very much in the game if not for the trademark Miami braindead stuff that struck again.
Indiana and Miami had a common opponent that each team played relatively recently and late in the season, that Miami played better against. Miami was very much in the game if not for the trademark Miami braindead stuff that struck again.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 1:50 pm to jb4
quote:
Where’s the beef
OP trying to manufacture something controversial involving Saban for internet points
Posted on 1/27/26 at 2:01 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
This is just baseless conjecture. Do you work for the associated press? They are the kings of baseless conjecture.
Prior to joining Alabama's staff in 2007 Cignetti had never been a coordinator. His biggest accomplishment at that time was as QB coach at NC State. I guess theoretically Saban could have promoted him to OC in 2008. But he went with Fresno States OC (McElwain) instead. Considering Alabama when 24-0 in the next two regular seasons, I'd say there was probably no real reason to promote Cig to a coordinator spot. However, Cignetti didn't want to be major conf. coordinator. He was 50. He wanted to be a HC. So he took the HC job at his dad's former school.
Saban didn't black-ball Cignetti. There was no spot for upward movement for him on those early Alabama staffs, so he chose to leave rather than waste anymore time trying to become a HC.
Prior to joining Alabama's staff in 2007 Cignetti had never been a coordinator. His biggest accomplishment at that time was as QB coach at NC State. I guess theoretically Saban could have promoted him to OC in 2008. But he went with Fresno States OC (McElwain) instead. Considering Alabama when 24-0 in the next two regular seasons, I'd say there was probably no real reason to promote Cig to a coordinator spot. However, Cignetti didn't want to be major conf. coordinator. He was 50. He wanted to be a HC. So he took the HC job at his dad's former school.
Saban didn't black-ball Cignetti. There was no spot for upward movement for him on those early Alabama staffs, so he chose to leave rather than waste anymore time trying to become a HC.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 2:23 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Heh Saban knew Indiana was going to run Alabama.
He's still paid by the Capstone and until he's not, he's going to have to always pick Bama and say good things about them even when he knows Bama sucks to high heaven compared to where they were when he ran the show.
He's still paid by the Capstone and until he's not, he's going to have to always pick Bama and say good things about them even when he knows Bama sucks to high heaven compared to where they were when he ran the show.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 2:24 pm to Jack Ruby
quote:
Saban and Gameday is all theatrics for a thinly-veiled Jimmy Sexton propaganda piece.
quote:
Jack Ruby
Tracks.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 2:30 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
Cig was on Saban"s staff, never promoted, never put on a path and endorsed for D1 HC coaching jobs like all other Saban assistants.
My memory is that in 2010 Saban referred Cignetti to the Kent State job which is Saban’s alma mater. Kent State chose Darrel Hazel who actually made a MAC title game before posting an atrocious record at Purdue.
quote:
On College Gameday this year, Saban picked: Illinois over Indiana Oregon over Indiana Ohio State over Indiana Alabama over Indiana Miami over Indiana
None of these were ridiculous at the time except for Alabama over Indiana, but Saban always picks Alabama. Saban also defaults to picking the team with more NFL bodies just like he recruited. He picked against Vanderbilt a ton too this year and picked Miami to make a run because of this.
quote:
And never gave any praise to Indiana and Cignetti.
This is just dishonest.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 3:00 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
The Miami brain drain is something you consider when picking the winner. Also qb was big edge to IU and coaching edge IU.
Posted on 1/27/26 at 3:07 pm to Epic Cajun
quote:
None of those picks were outlandish.
Picking Alabama over Indiana was dumb. They were dogs and played awful football against Oklahoma and had the W handed to them with horrifying TOs and fluke plays like a punter dropping the ball. Meanwhile, Indiana eviscerated damn near everyone and was coming off a win v tOSU, beat Oregon by 2 scores on the road and held them under 300 yards, and Alabama couldn’t run on anyone.
This post was edited on 1/27/26 at 3:11 pm
Posted on 1/27/26 at 3:08 pm to oldtrucker
quote:
The Miami brain drain is something you consider when picking the winner. Also qb was big edge to IU and coaching edge IU.
Sure, and it was still reasonable, not "wild," to pick Miami.
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