Indiana University football Coach Curt Cignetti now has the state’s top honor from the governor to go along with the national championship the Hoosiers won a couple months ago.

Gov. Mike Braun presented the 2026 Sachem Award to Cignetti on Wednesday during a trip to IU’s Bloomington campus, according to the governor’s office.

Braun also granted Sagamore of the Wabash awards to all members of the undefeated Hoosiers football team during the presentation with Cignetti and IU President Pamela Whitten.

The Sachem Award is the state’s highest honor. Only one is awarded annually to recognize Hoosiers for their work and virtue in shaping the state.

“Never daunted, Coach Curt Cignetti represented the state of Indiana on the national stage and showed the world that the Hoosier values of grit, perseverance, and no-excuses hard work are the way to victory,” Braun said in a statement. “I’m honoring Coach Cignetti with Indiana’s highest award, and awarding the whole championship Hoosiers team with the Sagamore of the Wabash to celebrate their historic achievement for our state.”

This was the second time Braun has bestowed the Sachem Award, after posthumously honoring Lucas Oil founder Forrest Lucas with the 2025 award.

Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb introduced Sachems to state government in 1970 — using an Algonquin term for village leaders — as the moniker for a group of business and industry leaders tasked with serving as state hosts. The Sachem organization dropped out of use before Gov. Mitch Daniels revived the concept as an award in 2005.

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