BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti spent the off week looking ahead to 2026.
Why would the No. 1 Hoosiers (13-0) spend time thinking about what’s next with the biggest game in program history on deck? That’s a function of the college football calendar with the NCAA adopting a single transfer portal window for football that will run from Jan. 2-16.
Advertisement
Indiana‘s coaching staff will have to be ready with a list of needs they want to attack in the portal the day after the Rose Bowl, win or lose. Cignetti to get those discussions out of the way before having players dedicate all their time and energy to the matchup against No. 9 Alabama.
“We’re probably 95% through, what I would call the key guys, sort of the guys that everybody knows,” Cignetti said. “So we’re almost home in that front.”
Indiana will have plenty of holes to fill just from the players who have exhausted their eligibility — a list that includes running back Roman Hemby, offensive lineman Pat Coogan, safety Louis Moore, wide receiver Elijah Sarratt and linebacker Aiden Fisher — but there’s also handful of draft eligible players who could leave early and coaches now basically have to re-recruit their entire roster to make sure they don’t have any surprise portal entrants.
The discussions surrounding player retention now mirror that of free agency in the NFL with college teams announcing they have “re-signed” players to new revenue-sharing and NIL deals.
Advertisement
Cignetti didn’t mention any specific names (or the outcomes of those discussions) but fans will likely get clarity in the weeks ahead once IU’s season comes to a close. The players on teams that reach the national title game get an additional five-day period (Jan. 20 -24) to enter the portal after their season ends.
Like many of the coaches across the country, Cignetti isn’t thrilled with the current NCAA calendar and would like to see changes in the future that help eliminate the overlap between the CFP and transfer portal window.
“I definitely think the calendar could be improved,” Cignetti said. “And that would be unanimous amongst the coaches. Whether you got to move the start of the regular season up a week and start playing in the playoffs when the season ends so there’s a little bit better time to devote to high school recruiting and portal recruiting, we’re all looking, I think, for that solution.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti is already looking ahead to 2026
