Curt Cignetti is filling a pair of integral off-the-field roles, and he’s tapping into a pair of football staffers with SEC experience among other Power 5 stops.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Matt Wilson, an extremely well-regarded personnel expert with previous stints at Tennessee, Mississippi State, a prior stop at Indiana University and, most recently, in the top personnel role at North Carolina State, is joining Cignetti’s staff in a top-level, general manager-type role for the Hoosiers.
Wilson, who also has NFL experience and had time running personnel at UConn and in the personnel department at Memphis, previously ran personnel at Indiana under former head coach Tom Allen.
Wilson was with the Hoosiers at the same time as Kalen DeBoer and Nick Sheridan, both of whom rose to the role offensive coordinator for the Hoosiers. The trio also was instrumental in star quarterback Michael Penix beginning his career at Indiana before transferring to Washington, which Penix is leading into Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship against Michigan.
Wilson has been climbing toward the general manager-type role, and he counts among his mentors the nationally regarded Bob Welton, Alabama’s current head of personnel.
Blake Jackson is joining Cignetti’s inaugural Hoosiers staff in a director of football operations role after most recently serving under Butch Jones in a similar role at Arkansas State.
Jackson and Wilson trace their roots to time together on Rocky Top at the University of Tennessee; Jackson’s value was such for the Vols that his tenure spanned through multiple head coaches as he climbed from a student-assistant role into far greater, full-time responsibilities.
Cignetti was hired away from James Madison last month to resurrect Indiana football after Tom Allen was fired and departed Bloomington, Indiana, with a $15-plus million buyout.
An Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native who played quarterback at West Virginia, Cignetti has amassed an 119-35 ledger as a head coach – most recently running off 52 wins in five seasons at James Madison, where he led the Dukes to an FCA runner-up finish, two semifinals berths and helped the program transition to FBS play with an almost-unheard-of 19 wins in its first two seasons of elevated competition.
Sources said Jackson and Wilson both were scheduled to join the Hoosiers staff early this week.