The Cignetti Effect: Championship Execution Before Championship Talent
By: Scott Mandell
I’m a proud Indiana University alum (class of 1993). I’ve been a lifelong sports fan (nay sports nut). Love my Chicago sports teams and my beloved Indiana Hoosiers. I also love pulling for the underdog. I have a son who is currently a freshman at Indiana (and another Hoosier diehard son) so what happened this season with the Hoosiers winning the National Championship in football wasn’t just exciting, it was personal and a memory I will always cherish.
After watching the celebration on the field, the confetti fall, and the trophy presentation, I started to think about how Curt Cignetti, a 64 year old head coach, who just got his first job ever at a Power 4 program just two seasons ago, was able to lead the biggest turnaround and the most incredible story in college football and perhaps even sports history.
The more I tried to come to grips with this reality, I started to think about the context of what transpired and how there are direct applications to business.
So in addition to this event being magical and exhilarating, it also became clarifying. It crystallized a leadership pattern I’ve seen repeatedly across my career as a founder, operator, investor, and business coach.
This wasn’t just a feel-good sports story...
IT WAS A MASTERCLASS IN EXECUTION!!
The False Narrative About Winning
The default explanation for winning—whether in sports or business—is talent.
Better players
Smarter executives
More experience
More capital
Sometimes that’s true. But it’s often incomplete.
Indiana did not suddenly close the talent gap with the rest of the Big Ten and the entire country for that matter. They didn’t out-recruit blue-blood programs or outspend anyone. They won because something far more important changed:
How the team operated.
The Core Insight
Systems beat talent early.
Talent beats systems late.
Capital amplifies whichever one is broken.
Indiana didn’t deny the importance of talent. They simply refused to wait for it. Instead, they raised the execution floor immediately.
That sequencing made all the difference.
What Indiana Got Right
Abstracted from football, Indiana’s championship run was built on five leadership principles that translate directly to middle-market businesses.
1. Ruthless Role Clarity
Every player knew their assignment. No freelancing.
In business, most $10–$200M companies suffer not from weak people, but from overlapping roles and fuzzy accountability. When performance improves immediately after clarifying responsibilities, you never had a talent problem—you had a leadership one.
2. Standards Beat Stars
Reputation didn’t earn playing time. Execution did. Cignetti often says productivity over potential.
Middle-market leaders often tolerate poor behavior or missed commitments from “key performers.” Over time, that tolerance erodes trust and culture.
Culture isn’t what you say you value.
It’s what you tolerate from your best people.
3. Development Velocity > Raw Talent
Thirteen players from Cignetti’s previous job at JMU transferred to Indiana which helped establish the culture up front. Additionally, Indiana’s players improved faster than expected. Coaching closed gaps recruiting couldn’t.
In business, very few leadership teams can answer this question:
How fast are our people getting better?
Talent is static.
Development velocity is a management choice.
4. System First, Talent Second
Indiana installed a system players could execute immediately. That reduced variance and raised the floor across the roster. They did this while actually practicing far less than other teams. Cignetti believes that extreme focused attention is far more important than just time on the field. Plus it keeps your guys fresher.
Many founders believe things will smooth out once they hire better people. In reality, hiring stars into a system-light organization usually increases volatility.
Systems create predictability.
Talent creates scale.
The order matters.
5. Raise the Floor Before Raising the Ceiling
Indiana eliminated unforced errors and made execution boring and repeatable. They were in fact one of the least penalized teams in the country. They also only had one lost fumble all year (first quarter of the first game). They raised the floor!
Middle-market growth often stalls not because upside is capped, but because downside volatility is too high—missed forecasts, slipped deals, inconsistent execution.
Before chasing upside, eliminate downside.
Why This Matters for Middle-Market Leaders
Middle-market companies live in the same reality Indiana football does:
Competing against better-resourced rivals
Led by founders with strong conviction
Heavy on effort, light on systems
Winning—until complexity catches up
Too often, leadership teams respond by adding talent or capital before fixing execution. That usually amplifies the wrong constraint.
Indiana showed a different path.
The Belief at the Center
Most organizations don’t lose because they lack talent.
They lose because leadership systems don’t allow talent to compound.
Indiana didn’t wait to become “better on paper.”
They became better at how they played.
Middle-market companies can do the same.
That’s The Cignetti Effect.
If this resonates, it’s because leadership patterns repeat—on the field, in the boardroom, and across portfolios. Championships are often earned before the talent arrives.