North Carolina State University Athletics
Cignetti Joins Wolfpack Staff
2/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Cignetti will coach the tight ends and serve as recruiting coordinator
"Pitt has had great recruiting classes under Curt Cignetti's guidance, and we are confident that his talents will be a big plus for us at NC State," said Amato. "He is a very organized, sharp young man whose experience as a recruiting coordinator and a coach are very impressive. His father, Frank, has also been a successful coach, so he has been around college football since long before his playing or coaching career."
Cignetti joined the Pitt staff in 1993 and has coached tight ends and quarterbacks during his tenure. He also served as recruiting coordinator all seven years he was with the Panthers program, and was recently rated one of the top 12 recruiting coordinators in the nation by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. In February, he helped Pitt sign its most heralded recruit of Coach Walt Harris' tenure, Dustin Picciotti, the 1999 Pennsylvania Player of the Year.
The Pittsburgh native began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Foge Fazio at Pitt in 1983 and 1984. He left prior to the 1985 season to coach quarterbacks at Davidson College, then moved on to join Jerry Berndt's staff at Rice for three seasons (1986-88), where he also coached the QBs. In 1989, Cignetti joined Berndt's staff at Temple, coaching quarterbacks for four seasons (1989-92). He returned to Pittsburgh in 1993 to serve under then head coach Johnny Majors.
A two-year letterman at West Virginia, Cignetti was a member of two consecutive bowl teams, the 1981 Peach Bowl squad and the 1982 Gator Bowl squad. He was honored with the Lewis D. Meisel Award for academics and the A.C. Whitey Gwynn Award for character. He earned his B.S. in business administration from West Virginia in 1982.
Cignetti is married to the former Manette Lawer of Indiana, Pennsylvania. The couple has three children: Curtis John, Jr. (8), Carly Ann (6) and Natalie (3).
His father, Frank, is the head football coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and is the former head coach at West Virginia University. His younger brother, Frank, Jr., was recently named the quarterbacks coach for the New Orleans Saints.
