North Carolina State University Athletics
Coaching In The Bloodlines
11/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 9, 2004
By Bruce Winkworth - Ask Curt Cignetti what he would be doing with his life if he hadn't gone into coaching, and he probably couldn't give you an answer. The son of a football coach, the brother of a football coach, Cignetti didn't so much go into coaching as he was born into it.
Cignetti's father is Frank Cignetti, longtime head coach at Division II powerhouse Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The elder Cignetti has forged a distinguished career that includes 22 years and counting as a head coach at IUP and West Virginia, a 187-69-1 career won-lost record, and two sons -- Frank Cignetti Jr., Curt's younger brother, is offensive coordinator at Fresno State and the former quarterbacks coach for the New Orleans Saints -- who have embarked on prominent coaching careers of their own.
Curt Cignetti has known no other environment than football. Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and reared in Morgantown, W.Va., he grew up on the sidelines, in the locker room, the film room, the team meeting rooms. Curt Cignetti grew up playing quarterback, stayed at home to play college football at West Virginia from 1979-82, and was the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers in the 1981 Peach Bowl and the 1982 Gator Bowl.
After his playing career ended, the only natural move for Cignetti was to follow in his father's footsteps.
"[My dad] had by far the biggest influence on me as a person and as a football coach," Cignetti says. "I just admire his discipline, his work ethic and his sense of values. There have been a lot of great coaches who coached for him and went on to do great things.
"I've been around a lot of great coaches -- Don Nehlan, Johnny Majors, Gary Tranquil, Chuck Amato, Bobby Bowden. I remember sitting in and listening to Bobby Bowden give fire-and-brimstone speeches at halftime at West Virginia, then pointing at me and saying, `Now don't you tell your mother I talk like this.' So it was always in my blood. I probably had no chance to do anything else."
Cignetti began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Foge Fazio at Pittsburgh from 1983-84, spent a year at Davidson coaching quarterbacks and receivers, spent three years at Rice coaching quarterbacks, and four years doing the same at Temple before returning to Pitt in 1993 under Majors.
In seven satisfying and productive seasons during his second term with the Panthers, Cignetti served in a number of capacities. He coached tight ends from 1994-96 and again in 1999, coached quarterbacks from 1997-98, and spent the entire time as recruiting coordinator, first under Majors and then under Walt Harris, who was Cignetti's third head coach in his two stints with the Panthers.
"When Coach Majors was let go, I was the only coach that got retained by the new staff," Cignetti says. "That staff came and it was three good years. I was with Walt Harris on offense. He's a real good offensive mind, a real good quarterbacks coach. I learned a lot from him offensively, a lot about coaching quarterbacks, but after three years it was time for me to go. It was time for me to make a move professionally. Those times come in your life."
Cignetti's need to move on coincided with Amato's arrival in Raleigh. Filling out his first coaching staff at NC State, Amato was looking for a quality offensive coach and a proven recruiter. Cignetti fit those descriptions to a T.
"I was fortunate," Cignetti says. "Chuck had gotten the job here, and he called me one day out of the blue and basically offered me a job as a tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. I took it."
Cignetti joined a talented and dynamic offensive staff in 2000. Together they helped to build an often-thrilling and at times devastating offense around a young quarterback named Philip Rivers. With Norm Chow as offensive coordinator in 2000, and Marty Galbraith in 2001 and '02, the Wolfpack caused nightmares for defensive coordinators everywhere.
The offense hit its peak in Cignetti's fourth season, however, the same year that Cignetti moved from coaching tight ends to coaching the quarterbacks. Mike Barry came aboard that year as the offensive line coach, and Noel Mazzone replaced Galbraith as offensive coordinator. Rivers went on to have the greatest single season of any quarterback in conference history, earned all-conference and ACC Player of the Year honors.
"Philip had achieved so much, and yet, there was so much he had never achieved," Cignetti says. "I thought he was capable of playing at another level. We had some new people come in offensively last year -- Coach Mazzone and Coach Barry -- and we tinkered around a little bit with what we were doing. The challenge was that he was the featured player, but the standard was high. And in the end, his numbers were outstanding. He made All-ACC unanimously, 68 out of 68 votes. He led the country in passing efficiency and completion percentage."
As thrilling and rewarding as the 2003 season was for Cignetti, it almost never happened. A week after arriving in Raleigh that first year, he got a call from the Green Bay Packers. The deal was for Cignetti to be assistant quarterbacks coach for two years, then become the quarterbacks coach.
In the end, Cignetti turned to his father's example for inspiration.
"That was a real hard decision," he says. "They had Brett Favre and they were good. It was the Green Bay Packers! I love X's and O's. I love studying game tape. I like the strategy, I like the football part of it. It was very difficult not to take that opportunity, but this is more where my dad's influence comes in. He always did what was best for the family. I learned from that. He was a great role model when I was a kid, and five years ago, my kids were young. I had heard great things about this area, and I thought this would be a good place to settle down for a while."
Today, nearly five years since moving to the area, Cignetti's son, Curt Jr., is 12 years old and in his first year of organized football at Ligon Middle School. Asked if his son plays football, Cignetti's face lights up like only a proud father's can.
"First year, seventh grade," Cignetti says, beaming. "He's having a great time. [Wolfpack running backs coach] Dick Portee told me the other day that he ran into the coach at Ligon and he told him, `Boy, I love that kid.' That means more to me than anything. This is his first year and I have no idea what kind of player he'll turn out to be, but what's important to me is that he's having fun and the coaches really like him."
Only time will tell how far Curt Jr.'s football career will take him, but given his bloodlines, it's possible that the family coaching tradition may continue for at least another generation.
"I really have not pushed him in athletics," Cignetti says. "We've pushed him academically to do well. I think the athletic part has come natural to him. He's attracted to what I do. He's expressed a desire to do what I do, and I was probably about his age when I first knew what I wanted to do. I'm not about to push him into this business. This business is a great business, but it's different than most other businesses. But if he wants to do it, I won't stop him. It's a great life growing up."
