The only thing Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti loves more than winning football games is sipping on an ice cold beer.
The Indiana Hoosiers football team had quite the “Cinderella Story” during the 2025-26 college football season. They went from one of the worst power-5 programs in the country to national champions in just a couple of years. After leaving James Madison University to take over at Indiana in 2024, Cignetti led the team to an impressive 11-2 record in his first season with the Hoosiers.
Then in his second season, Cignetti and Indiana went a perfect 16-0 and were crowned the champions of the College Football Playoff.
It was quite the story for a team that hasn’t had many winning seasons this century. And every step of the way, Curt Cignetti kept talking about how victories were made that much sweeter by sipping on a beer afterwards. When the Hoosiers punched their ticket to the national championship game, Cignetti said he was looking forward to cracking open a cold one.
During media day ahead of the College Football Playoff finale, a reporter asked if he ever got to having that beer, and the head coach assured the media that he did, in fact, drinks a brewski:
“It was Hoosier beer. You ever heard of Hoosier beer? It was shortly thereafter. Just one though. At my age, you drink two, and you fall asleep.”
You wouldn’t want that.
It sounds like Cignetti was purposefully avoiding a two-beer celebrations so that he wouldn’t drift off to bed (you can’t watch film when you are asleep). After the semi-final game, there was still work to do, and a national championship game to win. Curt Cignetti likely wanted to utilize as much time as he could for preparation.
And if that was the plan, it worked. Because Indiana – not even looking all that sharp throughout the game – were able to stave off a late-game comeback from the Miami Hurricanes to win the national championship 27 to 21. Cignetti, known for being very stoic throughout the game and in his time with the media, finally cracked a smile when he was asked how he was going to celebrate the win:
“I’m gonna have a beer!”
As he should.
Thanks to all of the post-game media opportunities that sports provide, we actually got an update on how that beer-drinking went for Curt Cignetti. While he and his Heisman-winning quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, sat and answered questions from the media, one reporter asked if Cignetti had gotten to that post-championship beer yet.
The Indiana coach confirmed that he had, and that it was glorious:
“It was Hoosier beer from Upland Brewing in Bloomington, Indiana. Yeah, absolutely. It was the best beer I’ve ever had in my life and it made me want to have another.”
Man, I really hope that Curt Cignetti got around to having a second beer… he definitely deserves it.
Beer drinkers out there know that an ice cold beer in really any scenario tastes great. I can’t imagine how smooth a beer goes down after securing an undefeated season and winning a national championship trophy. Curt Cignetti didn’t have to imagine it though… he lived it.
Here’s to hoping he got really crazy and had beer number two at some point during the celebration.
