Much has been made of the fact that Curt Cignetti, head coach of the IU football team, has never experienced a losing season.

He came close a few times.

Cignetti had two 6-5 seasons – in 2014 with Indiana University of Pennsylvania and 2018 with Elon – although in both cases the wins were decided long before the end of the season.

But Cignetti’s accomplishments in 13 seasons as a head coach are undeniably impressive. He has a career record of 119-35 (.773), including 52-9 (.853) at his last stop, James Madison.

Many are convinced that Cignetti’s success will transfer seamlessly to Indiana and the Big Ten and that the winning streak will continue uninterrupted.

And that could well be the case.

But as former Indiana coach and current ESPN analyst Lee Corso likes to say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Cignetti, 63, is not the first coach to arrive in Bloomington with an impressive winning percentage.

The Hoosiers’ two previous coaches – Tom Allen and Kevin Wilson – had no college coaching experience before taking over in Bloomington. But before them, Indiana was, by and large, a place that swallowed and spat out coaches with impressive resumes.

This is just a selection, including four cases in which coaches like Cignetti came to IU without ever having a negative record.

In all cases, with one exception, these are cautionary tales, because Indiana was ultimately successful, if not immediately.

Terry Hoeppner was 48-25 (.658) at Miami (Ohio) from 1999-2004, and like Cignetti, he didn’t have a single losing season during that six-year span. Most believe Hoeppner had the Hoosiers on the right path before his tragic passing in 2007. And Bill Lynch’s 7-6 bowl season in 2007 supports that notion. But the fact remains that Hoeppner was 9-14 with a losing record in both of his seasons at IU.

Bill Mallory doesn’t fall into the “never had a poor season before IU” category, but he came close. Mallory coached at three stops for 14 seasons before Indiana, compiling a record of 99-52-1. In those 14 years, Mallory only had two poor seasons, a 5-6 record in his first year at Colorado and a 3-8 record in 1981 at Northern Illinois. Despite those accomplishments, Mallory compiled a 4-18 record in his first two seasons at Indiana, including an 0-11 record in his first year.

Lee Corso also came to IU without ever having experienced a losing season. In four years at Louisville from 1969 to 1972, Corso posted a 28-11-3 record, including a 9-1 record in his final season there. But in Corso’s first three years in Bloomington, he went 5-27-1 overall, and it took him seven years to record a win in Bloomington.

Johannes Pont was another head coach who came to Indiana without a losing season. Pont coached for nine years in total, seven at Miami (Ohio) and two at Yale, and he compiled a 55-27-3 record in those stints. Pont went 3-16-1 in his first two years at IU before working magic in his third year, leading the Hoosiers to the Rose Bowl.

Phil Dickens also arrived in Bloomington without ever having a losing season. In 10 years at Wofford and Wyoming, Dickens posted a 69-27-8 record. Unlike some of his successors at IU, Dickens continued his freshman success, posting a 5-3-1 record in his first season in Bloomington. But Dickens hit .500 as a sophomore and then had five consecutive losing seasons.

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