Where is Curt Cignetti from? Hometown, high school and more to know about Pittsburgh roots

Here is all you need to know about where Indiana Hoosiers football coach Curt Cignetti is from.

Curt Cignetti

Where is Curt Cignetti from? Hometown, high school and more to know about Pittsburgh roots originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Curt Cignetti has become a legend in the state of Indiana. 

The University of Indiana has been historically known as a basketball school, but Cignetti has put them firmly on the football map, turning around the program and leading them to the 2026 CFP National Championship game against Miami.

Cignetti is Indiana royalty now, but he is not from there. He has coaching in his blood, thanks to his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., and was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As with most coaching families, the Cignettis moved around with Cignetti Sr.'s job, but they stayed primarily in the northeast. 

Here is more on where Cignetti is from.

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Where is Curt Cignetti from?

Cignetti was born in Pittsburgh, PA on June 2, 1961. At the time, his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., was an assistant football coach at Leechburg High School in Pennsylvania. 

Cignetti Sr. became an assistant at Pittsburgh in 1966 and then at Princeton in 1969. He returned in 1970 as an assistant at West Virginia University, prompting a family move. 

Curt's younger brother, Frank Cignetti Jr., said regarding both he and his brother Curt going into coaching, “One, being a coach’s son really helped us understand the profession. Being around the game at an early age gave us the desire and the want to be a football coach. At an early age, we got an opportunity to see our father be a great mentor and have this thing in perspective, which I know Curt does.”

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Curt Cignetti high school

Cignetti graduated from Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia. He spent his final three years at the school and played quarterback for his high school team while his father was coaching the Mountaineers. 

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When did Curt Cignetti move to Morgantown?

Cignetti moved to Morgantown when he was in third grade. His father became an assistant at WVU in 1970, and that was when the Cignettis moved to Morgantown. In one of his first press conferences, Cignetti said that he knew since the third grade that he wanted to be a coach like his father, which would've aligned with the move to West Virginia. 

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Where did Curt Cignetti go to college?

Cignetti went to West Virginia. At the time, his father was the head coach. The father-son duo only spent one season together for the Mountainers. The elder Cignetti was fired after the 1979 season, amidst a battle with cancer. The younger Cignetti stayed with the Mountaineers for his entire collegiate career, graduated in 1982 and then turned his attention to coaching. 

It's ironic that Cignetti played for West Virginia after he was born in Pittsburgh. The University of Pittsburgh and WVU have been rivals since 1895, and their games have been dubbed the "Backyard Brawl," given their proximity to each other. 

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Category: General Sports