Both of Indiana's coordinators under Curt Cignetti started with him making less than $10k

There's an old saying about job searches that goes something along the lines that you shouldn't choose a position based on title or pay, but instead based on the person you'll be working, and in turn, learning under.

That's especially true of the coaching profession, where continuity is the key to success, and a trait like loyalty is treasured. 

A pair of coordinators on a team with national title aspirations coming off the program's best season in school history embody all of that.

Now considered some of the top coordinators in college football, Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines' journeys started under Cignetti as part-time coaches.

Haines, a two-time semifinalist for the Broyles Award, has worked alongside Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti for over a decade now, with this season marking his 11th working under the decorated Hoosiers leader.

After a coaching career that started at the Division III level with stops at Manchester (D-III - IN) and Adrian (D-III - MI), Haines spent some time in the Big Ten as a graduate assistant for the Hoosiers and Buckeyes following a standout career as a linebacker at Ball State.

Following those Big Ten stops, Bryant linked up with Cignetti at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Division II program, that Cig had just left Alabama to take over. Cignetti's father had previously led the program and it's where his wife was from, and his parents still lived. Haines spent a season on the west coast as the linebackers coach at UC-Davis before reuniting with Cignetti at Elon, and then following him to James Madison, where he added the co-defensive title for a few seasons before being elevated to defensive coordinator prior to the 2022 season. 

Shanahan had a similar climb in the profession, starting as a graduate assistant at Pitt for two seasons following a four-time All Big East Academic Team career before landing with Cignetti coaching the receivers at Indiana University Pennsylvania. He would move with Cignetti to Elon and James Madison working with the receivers before adding the offensive coordinator duties in 2021 and carrying that role to Bloomington with the Hoosiers.

Both coaches, most notably Haines, have had opportunities pop up with other programs with much richer history than Indiana provides and even head coaching opportunities at the FBS level, but ultimately opted to stay with Cignetti.

As Cignetti explains in a conversation with college football personality Joel Klatt on his self-named show, both of those now-star coordinators took a leap of faith, leaving graduate assistant roles in major college football for low-paying part-time positions with a coach who, while he had just spent a few seasons coaching receivers under Nick Saban at Alabama, was (at the time) unproven and taking a major gamble on himself.

He credits their success in Bloomington to people like Shanahan, Haines, and special teams coordinator Grant Cain (among others) who have provided incredible consistency.

"I have been very fortunate to have great consistency on my coaching staff."

"You know, my offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, I hired as part time coaches at the Division II level for about $8,000. Those guys have been with me 11 or 12 years, and that would be Bryant Haines and Mike Shanahan."

Cignetti goes on to share that Cain has been with him 6 or 7 seasons as well as leads some of the top special teams units in all of college football as well.

"A number of other people in the organization have been with me a long time and so they how we do things, and they know how I am, and the expectation level," he shares, before going on to note that their practice time on the field is perhaps among the lowest and most efficient in all of college football. Monday's consist of a 35-minute walk-through and Friday's walk-through is about 25 minutes while practice Tuesday through Thursday is an hour-and-forty minutes, tops.

Hear Cignetti's full comments in the clip.