What To Expect In Cignetti's Return

“Should I tell the pig story or not?” Cignetti said as he chuckled and looked at his family during his introductory press conference at James Madison this past December. “OK, I won’t tell that story.”

Days earlier he left his old job as coach at Elon for the same gig at JMU, knowing the Phoenix and Dukes reside in the same conference, meet annually and there would be no avoiding a return to where he spent the past two seasons.

JMU plays at Elon on Saturday, marking Cignetti’s first trip back to Rhodes Stadium. There are fans of the Phoenix who likely feel one way or the other about Cignetti and who will applaud him or boo him when he leads Madison onto the field for the 2 p.m. kickoff.

And minutes following that first presser in December, Cignetti eventually shared the pig story and the one thing that’s guaranteed to happen when the former coach returns to town.

“They have a great tailgate at Elon. I mean a great one,” Cignetti said. “They’re the 7 a.m. guys, so say you play a six o’clock game at night, they’re going to start this tailgate at 7 a.m. and they roast a pig at every tailgate. And so [Cignetti’s wife] Manette, the head coach’s wife, she’s been like the first lady of the tailgate.

“Well this pig they roast, they name it after the opposing team’s head coach’s wife. So, this year Manette’s going to be the pig. She’s gone from being the first lady to the pig.”

This week, Cignetti has said he expects a crowd at Elon similar to the strong one that showed up when the Dukes made their last trip there in 2017. A Colonial Athletic Association title was on the line in front of 8,662 and JMU took the game 31-3.

Of course plenty of familiar faces will be there to greet Cignetti, who led Elon to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in school history, but his biggest ally that still calls Elon home is the coach, Tony Trisciani.

Trisciani was promoted after serving as Cignetti’s defensive coordinator.

“I learned a lot from Curt Cignetti,” Trisciani said. “He’s a real good football coach. He’s a very good leader, good motivator for the players and the staff. He has a vision and he focuses on executing that vision. With Curt, I learned that sometimes less is more and to focus on a few things, the things that are important and to do ‘em right, do ‘em well.”

Trisciani has Elon off to a 2-2 start with wins over The Citadel and Richmond, and has the Phoenix at No. 24 in the STATS FCS Top 25.

“Tony came very highly recommended,” Cignetti said. “He’s an excellent coach and has great energy. He really knew the defense inside and out. He’s very organized and I think he’s done a great job down there. You watch ‘em on tape, they’re very impressive and I was glad he had the opportunity when I left.”

Elon’s players are many of the same Cignetti recruited and coached, too, led by quarterback Davis Cheek and defensive end Marcus Willoughby. Cheek has thrown for 736 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception while Willoughby has tallied 26 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

“Curt and I are a little different from a personality standpoint,” Trisciani said. “Some of the things that I’ve focused on with our team is just getting them really to be together, caring about each other, playing hard for each other and consistency in effort, certainly, and playing hard. But when I looked at this program, I didn’t want to come in and make changes just to make changes, so a lot of the things have stayed consistent.”