Former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban made his feelings clear about how he views Indiana Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti from a broader lens after having seen his former assistant resurrect the football program in only two seasons.
Cignetti's momentum is being ridden into the College Football Playoff, as the Hoosiers passed their first test with a 38-3 throttling against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl New Year's Day. They now have a chance to eliminate the Oregon Ducks in Friday's Peach Bowl, secure their spot in the national title game, and give the Big Ten an even greater case to be called the nation's best conference.
But Saban seems curious about where Cignetti's career trajectory may lead him if he ultimately decides to walk away from Bloomington altogether.
Saban said his NFL stints taught him a lot about who he would eventually be remembered as at the college level, but he isn't entirely sure if Cignetti would translate the same way (or somewhat similarly).
“When I took the Dolphins job, I had been in the NFL for six years prior to that," Saban said on "The Pat McAfee Show." "Four years as a coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, two in Houston as a secondary coach."
Saban said there has to be an ability to "understand" the NFL, which, in his opinion, is a level above college football when it comes to coaching IQ.
"So, I understood the NFL, but if you never coached in the NFL, I mean, developing players is not a lot different, but how you bring players to the team is tremendously different. I think you’ve got to have an organization that is vertically integrated from top down to be able to have success in the NFL,” Saban said.
Saban said the nuances are just a lot more involved, which makes the transition challenging for younger coaches.
“Because you have a lot more impediments in terms of competitive balance in the NFL," Saban said. "You’ve got a salary cap. You can’t draft whoever you want to draft. You’ve got to draft who’s available when you pick. So, sometimes that doesn’t work out. You’ve got to pay the right kind of guys on your roster and on your team. Then, you’ve got to develop a team chemistry that is a little bit different than working with college players.”
Whether Cignetti could swiftly transition, according to Saban, is more of a question for Cignetti himself, as the topic of the NFL simply remains a hot-button issue between the two.
“I’ve never talked to Curt about going to the NFL,” Saban said. “I don’t really know that he has any interest in doing that. I will say this, though, it is a fairly difficult transition to go from college to the NFL if you’ve never been in the NFL before.”
It seems Saban fully supports him, but Cignetti's career choices are his alone.
For now, only time will tell.