Indiana football’s new quarterback, Josh Hoover, took his fair share of fan criticism this past weekend after some of his throws went awry during the Hoosiers’ 38-0 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday.
Hoover completed 18 of his 24 passing attempts for 273 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Hilltoppers. But a few of those six misses stuck with fans as multiple third and fourth down attempts fell short. Indiana’s first possession of the game ended this way with a missed throw to Hoover leading
to a missed 54-yard field goal attempt.
There were back-to-back incompletions on third and fourth down during Indiana’s second drive of the second quarter and an incompletion followed by a pressured scramble on the next drive. That wasn’t the end of it, but Indiana’s passing struggles on late downs caused angst in Memorial Stadium and online fan channels.
So, when Curt Cignetti arrived for his Monday press conference, he was ready to defend his quarterback.
Cignetti, after rewatching the game, said there’s been too much unfair criticism on Hoover. Just one of Hoover’s incompletions was a missed throw on his part, Cignetti said, with the others amounting to missed blitz pickups and poorly run routes from receivers.
He finished this defense with an endorsement of Hoover’s presence on the team.
“I’m glad he’s our quarterback.”
Now, here’s the thing. Cignetti is very intentional with his time in these press conferences. If a question merits a short and sweet answer, that’s what it gets. But if he goes long, that shows its a topic that matters and this was about as long as he went on Monday.
One really important thing to know about Cignetti is that players love playing for him and coaches love working for him. Sure, the money each group receives for doing so is great, but could easily be gotten elsewhere. The difference for Indiana’s roster and staff is Cignetti, who makes sure each is taken care of.
Cignetti’s practices are short and intentional to minimize wear and tear on players’ bodies over the course of the season, he invests in strength and conditioning personnel to keep players in shape and empowers members of his staff to go about their business in the facility and on gamedays.
Guys don’t usually leave Cignetti after he’s invested in them as prospects or staffers, just look at the coordinators. That brings us to this specific case with Hoover.
It’s not lost on me that the last coach Hoover committed to and spent several years of his life alongside threw him under the bus as soon as it became expedient for him to do so. I doubt that was lost on Cignetti either, who took a similar media opportunity to defend his quarterback.
That’s not to say Cignetti hasn’t critized anyone, namely Hoover, before. He’s offered critiques of players during media availabilities in the past. But it says something that, given an opportunity to do so, Cignetti gave a strong defense of one of his players.
Cignetti makes sure his guys are taken care of, whether that’s in the weight room, in contract negotiations or their coach having their back. It’s a running theme of his coaching tenures and rang especially true on Monday.
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