After three decades navigating the peaks and valleys of coaching in college football and even the NFL Frank Cignetti Jr. is heading back to where it all began. Not to restart, but to come full circle. Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) announced last month that Cignetti will serve as the program’s new offensive coordinator under head coach Paul Tortorella. For Cig, the 59-year-old coaching veteran this isn’t just another job, it’s a homecoming.
“I am excited to return to Indiana University of Pennsylvania as the offensive coordinator, a place that holds great meaning for both me and my wife, Ellen,” Cignetti said. “This program gave so much to me as both a player and coach.” Cignetti’s coaching résumé reads like a football roadmap, 35 years across six NFL teams, eight collegiate programs, and countless offensive systems. From Boston College to the Green Bay Packers, from the ACC to the NFC West, mentoring quarterbacks, crafting playbooks, and developing talent at the highest levels.
Cignetti’s first official coaching role came at IUP in 1990, just one year after he served as a graduate assistant at Pitt. At IUP, he worked under his father, legendary head coach Frank Cignetti Sr as a receivers coach, gradually working his way up to offensive coordinator. Under his pops IUP reached two national championship games and made four semifinal appearances, these accomplishments still hold tremendous value to the IUP football program.
“Our football field is named after my father,” Cignetti said. “He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. If this place was good enough for guys like him and the other great coaches who have come here, then it’s certainly good enough for Frank Cignetti Jr.” Tortorella has known Cignetti for over 30 years and called the hire a “no-brainer.” “His experience in both the NFL and FBS football surpasses that of anyone else in Division II,” Coach Tort said. “He checks every box you want — plus a lot more. And more than anything, Frank wants to be here.”
Cignetti’s last stop before IUP was less kind. As Pitt’s offensive coordinator from 2022–23, he struggled to replicate the explosive results of his predecessor, Brennan Marion. The Panthers dropped from 41.4 points per game in 2021 to just 20.2 by the end of 2023, a decline that contributed to a disappointing 3-9 finish, the worst of Pat Narduzzi’s career as a Panther. The University let him go after the season. Still, Cignetti didn’t rush into his next move. Instead, he took time off to reflect, recharge, and reconnect, something he hadn’t done in over three decades of coaching. “I got to wake up and not worry about the next opponent. I got to go for walks, spend time with Ellen, and just breathe,” he said in an interview before taking the IUP job. “And then I came to a couple IUP games last season, and I had this thought that I would love to help this program.”
Cignetti won’t be walking into a turnkey operation. The Crimson Hawks are entering a period of offensive rebuild, returning only three starters from last year’s unit. But one name on the roster might offer a head start: quarterback Matthew Rueve, a Findlay transfer who previously played under Cignetti at Boston College. “Getting a chance to play for Coach Cignetti again, somebody that I believe a lot in, and someone who believes in me is a great thing,” Rueve said. Cignetti’s system remains rooted in a pro-style philosophy — a blend of NFL discipline and Division II grit, forged over years in the league and tempered by the legacy of his father and former IUP assistant Jack Henry. “There’s a system in place that really started here,” he explained. “And then, what I learned in the National Football League from guys like Mike McCarthy, Jim Hostler, Ben McAdoo, Brian Schottenheimer — we want to be fast, we want to be physical, we want to be relentless. We want to get all 11 guys playing as one.”
Cignetti doesn’t know whether this will be his final coaching stop. But one thing is clear: he’s not chasing the next big contract, the next title, or the next jump to a Power Five program. He’s returning to where football first felt like family, claiming that it is more than enough. “I’m 59 years old, and you start thinking: how am I going to make a difference with the time I have left?” Cignetti said. “There could not be a better place for me right now than IUP. This place means something special to me.”