PAWS for THOUGHT Volume 1 / December Issue Topic: Blueprint Over Brilliance by: AD - Cole Cooper For most of college football history, the University of Indiana's football program was defined by effort without expectation: t rying hard was enough, b elieving was optional, w inning was rare. Then Curt Cignetti arrived with n o slogans, no gimmics, no using the transfer portal to build a team, not a single 4 or 5 star recruit on the roster, or magic potion: j ust a blueprint. Today, Indiana football sits among the nation’s elite, not because of recruiting rankings or viral motivation, but because of structure, standards, and mindset discipline. When you trace Curt Cignetti’s 40-year coaching journey, from Davidson College practice fields to Big Ten championships, the transformation becomes remarkably clear. Below are five mental performance and culture principles that I got from watching an interview on the Big10 network that explain how one coach took the worst program ...