Todd’s Take: Indiana Newsmaker Of The Year? Two Choices Rise Above The Rest

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

The 2024-25 season for Indiana athletics is nearly in the books.

Some Indiana track and field athletes are still going in the NCAA postseason, but apart from that, its all over for the Hoosiers this season.

It got me to thinking who the newsmaker of the year is for Indiana athletics? The word newsmaker is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

If I made it Indiana Sportsperson of the Year, then you kind of feel compelled to name someone who brought success.

Not everything that dominated the attention of Indiana fans was positive in the 2024-25 season, however.

Much of what was most talked about was mens basketball as it almost always is and the inability of the mens basketball team to win at the rate most expected from the Hoosiers.

Newsmaker of the Year also makes it easier to separate players and coaches, which is good, as Im not sure any player in any one sport separated themselves this year to dominate the conversation.

In football, quarterback Kurtis Rourke would likely get the nod for most fans.

Cant argue that a bit, though if I were voting for the most impactful Indiana football player, Id roll with defensive end Mikail Kamara.

Mens basketball didnt have a dominant single player, but womens basketball saw good seasons from Yarden Garzon, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish and others.

Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson were both outstanding in baseball.

Same for Tommy Mihalic and Sam Sarver in mens soccer.

Honestly? The most dominant player in any one sport was probably softballs Taylor Minnick, an All-American who hit .484 with 18 home runs and 71 RBI.

All of those players had great seasons and did Indiana proud, but were they talked about more so than the two coaches who dominated the conversation? They were not.

Football coach Curt Cignetti and former mens basketball coach Mike Woodson were head-and-shoulders above the rest in terms of the interest they generated from Indiana fans.

Cignetti, of course, led Indiana football to its all-time winningest season.

An 11-2 record, Big Ten contention deep into November, and a College Football Playoff berth were well beyond anyones wildest expectations.

Even if Cignetti had been a complete drip as a personality, hed have warranted plenty of buzz.

That Cignetti did it all with a swagger that endeared him to long-suffering Indiana football fans certainly aided his popularity.

However, the substance was more important than the style.

The seemingly easy culture change that Cignetti created for the Hoosiers is not all as simple as he made it appear.

Having a nucleus of former James Madison winners to impart Cignettis ways didnt hurt that cause, but the organizational mind it takes to seamlessly meld imparting culture, executing culture and succeeding with culture is formidable.

That, to me, is what was most impressive about Cignetti.

Cignettis accomplishments are all sunshine and roses.

Woodson, of course, was a different story.

Woodson dominated conversation for two seasons, really.

When it became apparent that he was not quickly taking the Hoosiers to Big Ten contention, or anything close, segments of Indianas notoriously demanding fanbase turned on Woodson.

Some of the criticism was fair, some of it wasnt, some of it was tasteless, some of it went far beyond the scope of acceptable sports criticism and into dark corners of personal threats and racism.

As someone whos only had a taste of being in that kind of a public fish bowl, I only have a scant idea how Id react to that.

Id be in 20-20 hindsight territory if I were to say that Woodsons defiant approach was a mistake, but it certainly didnt quiet his critics.

I remain convinced that the walls that Indiana puts up to keep non-affiliated storytellers from having more of a personal relationship with coaches dont help.

Woodson also had his supporters whether it was fans who thought Woodson deserved respect as a former great player, whether they thought he was getting a raw deal from his critics, or whether they just liked Woodsons personality.

That clash of critics and supporters alone kept Woodson at the tips of everyones tongues during the season.

Good as football was, its still mens basketball that has the most capability to generate the most interest from fans.

So the Woodson saga, negative though it may have been, was very much a ying to Cignettis yang as far as Indiana buzz was concerned.

So how do you break the deadlock? Woodsons early February resignation took what would have been planet Mercury-style heat off of him at the end of the season.

Even though most could have anticipated the ultimate outcome, can you imagine how those late-season basketball games would have been had Woodsons fate not been decided? That, plus the fact that celebrating a winner is better than stewing in someones misfortune, makes Cignetti the choice as the newsmaker of Indianas 2024-25 athletic season.

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