Meet Curt Cignotti, who wanted to make the jumbotron but was mistaken for IU’s football coach

Meet Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti impersonator Curt Cignotti

Cory Miles, of Washington, Indiana, is spot on with his Indiana Hoosiers football coach Curt Cignetti impersonation. He goes by Curt Cignotti.

• Curt Cignotti is Cory Miles, a married, 44-year-old Air Force veteran and father of three.
• Miles first dressed up as Curt Cignotti at the Michigan State game and the response was outrageous.
• Miles has been doing impersonations for years, sometimes to the annoyance of his family.

BLOOMINGTON — Cory Miles is walking through the empty hollows of Memorial Stadium on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and it’s uncanny, the way he puts his hands awkwardly on his hips, the way he scribbles on the tiny notepad he pulls out of his pocket, the way he looks up to the skies with a serious, if not menacing, look on his face adorned with a big black headset.

It’s no wonder what happened to Miles just a few days ago inside this same stadium crammed with fans for IU’s football game against UCLA.

A couple of students came up to Miles begging to get their photo taken with him. They couldn’t believe they were standing that close to their coach.

Miles quickly realized what was happening, so he leaned over and whispered to one of those students, not to cause embarrassment, “You know I’m not really coach Cignetti, right?” Turns out, they did not.

And that remarkable resemblance Miles has to IU coach Curt Cignetti is what has catapulted this married, 44-year-old Air Force veteran and father of three into the viral throes of social media as one of college football’s most popular characters: The Curt Cignetti impersonator.

Miles goes by Curt Cignotti, just to make clear that he is not trying to actually fake that he is the football coach who has taken IU to a place the program has never seen. The team is 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in the latest AP and Coaches polls, its highest ranking in history.

To be honest, Miles says, this whole thing started because he was hoping to get on the jumbotron at Memorial Stadium.

He and his wife Kristin, an IU alum, have been season ticket holders for years. They have been through some incredibly tough seasons, devastating losses, and still they have been there cheering, even when IU was the furthest thing from a football powerhouse.

Then coach Curt Cignetti was hired in November 2023 to replace Tom Allen. And one of Miles’ friends looked at him and said, “You know what? You kind of look like Cignetti.”

Yes, Miles did.

He stands 6-1 and is 220 pounds. Cignetti is 6-3 and, according to his stats at West Virginia as a college quarterback, weighed 200 pounds. Miles’ face, though 20 years younger than Cignetti, bears a striking resemblance to the IU coach. And Miles’ haircut is just like Cignetti’s — and always has been.

“He didn’t have to do anything to his hair,” said Kristin. “He didn’t have to do much at all.”

And so earlier this month, at IU’s game against Michigan State, Miles decided to debut Curt Cignotti with the hopes of finally getting on that jumbotron.

He purchased a headset, a pair of fake glasses and nice black slacks and shoes off of Amazon. He already had the red IU, short-sleeved quarter zip at home, and he had that unmistakable, genetic Cignetti look.

But Miles had no idea what was about to happen.

As he walked into the stadium, chaos ensued. It was an outrageously, welcoming reaction. Everywhere he turned, people were asking for photos with him.

“You don’t go very far before you’re stopped. And there’s a lot of, ‘Hey, coach. Hey, Cig,'” said Miles. “So, if you’re wanting to get popcorn or something, you may not want to dress up like this.”

Still, Miles decided to dress up again for the next home game against UCLA on Saturday. That’s when Curt Cignotti exploded. Miles was shown on national television and his phone started blowing up.

That’s when Miles realized something. This character named Curt Cignotti is kind of what the world needs right now.

“People were having such a good time with it, and with all the bad stuff that gets spewed out all over the news, it’s just a little break from bad news,” he said. “(People) can try to have a laugh, try to have a good time with it.”

At the past two IU home games, Miles estimates he’s been approached hundreds of times for photos.

“I mean, I’ll get stopped 30 or 40 times on the way up to the stadium from the parking lot, and then inside the stadium, I get stopped before I even get to my seat,” he said. “I’ll just have a line of people waiting to get their picture taken.”

But as all those people started posting those pictures of Coach Cignotti to social media, Miles had one nagging worry — that his impersonation might not be approved by the real Cignetti.

‘You made Cignetti smile’

Cignetti took care of that worry at the news conference after the UCLA game, when a reporter asked him if he had seen his impersonator. “Yeah, he’s pretty good,” Cignetti responded with a big grin.

Kristin was ecstatic. “I was like, ‘You made Cignetti smile.'”

And Cignetti’s a coach who rarely smiles. That gave Miles the assurance and approval he needed.

“Since everyone’s really enjoyed it, I decided that I’ll do it as long as people are happy and enjoy it,” Miles said. “I’m glad the coach enjoys it, because I didn’t want him to be mad at me.”

What Curt Cignetti thinks of Indiana football coach lookalike

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti told reporters he has seen his look-alike. Here’s what he thinks.

Miles is a lifelong man of humor and impressions. Kristin has been putting up with her husband’s impersonation shenanigans for 21 years. He does impressions for people all the time. He’s constantly quoting lines from their favorite movies.

The first one Kristin remembers Miles doing for her was the line in “Dumb and Dumber” where Jeff Daniels is told by a police officer, “Pull over” and Daniels responds “No, it’s a cardigan, but thanks for noticing.”

Miles has done that line more times than Kristin can count. Wherever they go, he’s pulling up movie characters and impressions. People love it.

“He’s just, Cory’s just who he is wherever he goes,” Kristin said. But at home, there have been times where the impressions have gotten a tad annoying.”

Miles has a son who is a sophomore at IU and a daughter headed to IU in the fall. He also has a 7-year-old son.

“They’re having a good time with it. I think my daughter gets kind of annoyed with it sometimes, because she’s just like, ‘Oh, I can’t go anywhere,'” Miles said. “We go to the games, and people are coming down there to our seats to get a picture of dad, and they’re climbing over me.”

In reality, Kristin said, the kids are all incredibly excited to be a part of Curt Cignotti.

“They’re like, ‘Finally, dad’s getting some credit for his annoyingness,'” she said.

Before Miles left Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, IndyStar asked him a few important questions to answer as his alter ego.

How do you think the season’s going, coach Cignotti?

“It’s been really good. We had quite a bit of success and I think that goes to building a foundation of excellence and having the right people and just having the right mindset and getting them to buy in that we can actually have some success here. So, that’s about all I got.”

What are quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s chances for the Heisman Trophy?

“I think he’s got a good shot. I mean, obviously he’s playing the best football out of any other quarterback in college football right now. So, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be the Heisman Trophy winner.”

What do you attribute to your success these last two seasons?

“Preparation, coaching the players we brought in, just getting them to buy into the mindset that we’re going to be successful and we’re going to win if we work hard, we execute and stay hungry.”

It all sounded very Cignetti, very, very Cignetti.

When Miles is not coach Cignotti, he says, “I’m just a regular guy. I do a lot of sports, I work at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in contracts.”

He’s just a diehard IU football fan who wanted to get on the jumbotron who happened to look like the coach and decided to play the part in what has become, arguably, the most exciting historic season in IU football.

“I wanted to be somewhat a part of that,” Miles said. “It’s really taken on a life of its own.”

Keep up with Coach Curt Cignotti on Tik Tok and X.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com