President Trump looks for Curt Cignetti on stage, standing beside him, honoring Indiana football team at White House
Perhaps the president could have followed Cignetti's infamous suggestion about him and his success.
The Indiana University football team visited the White House on Monday to celebrate its 2025 national championship . Leading the Hoosiers to football glory has made head coach Curt Cignetti a renowned figure in college football (and perhaps the NFL, for teams curious if he could translate his success to the pro game). Yet despite achieving the seemingly impossible with building a national champion at Indiana in just two seasons and after 15 years as a head coach — seven at the FBS level of college football — Cignetti is still relatively unknown to the general public.
Trump: Who is Curt? Curt Cignetti? Where is Curt Cignetti?
*looks around* pic. twitter. com/o000vky1ox — Acyn (@Acyn) May 11, 2026 That apparently includes President Donald Trump, who had difficulty identifying the coach when the Hoosiers joined him on stage — even though Cignetti was standing directly to the president’s left.
As he introduced the Indiana football team and noted their achievement, Trump began to reference Cignetti’s 2023 introductory press conference in Bloomington and his bold response to a question about how he would sell his program to recruits. But he wasn’t aware where the coach he was talking about was standing on stage. “Who is Curt?