As a coach's son, it’s only fitting that Frank Cignetti Jr.’s earliest football memories involve watching game film. Now 57 years old, Cignetti is still able to recall all the way back to 1969, when he’d sit with his father, Frank Sr. and break down X’s and O’s on a black and white recording displayed on his living room wall from a 16-millimeter projector.
While Cignetti has plenty of other early-life memories in both his heart and mind, his personal favorite football moment resides on a shelf in an office at his home in Cranberry. Tucked between his many keepsakes accumulated throughout his 34-year coaching career sits a small, round hunk of metal that once served as part of the goal post at Mountaineer field.
Overtop the rusting cylinder’s fading white paint read the words “November 8, 1975. WVU 17, Pitt 14.”
“It was such a bitter rivalry,” Cignetti Jr. recalled. “Growing up in Morgantown, there was a sign that literally said ‘Beat Pitt.’ Bobby Bowden was the head coach. My dad was on his staff. Bill McKenzie hit the 39-yard field goal at the end and we all rushed the field.”
Back then, before he went on to work with future Hall of Fame quarterbacks such as Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers, or serve as offensive coordinator at numerous Power Five programs, Cignetti Jr. was just a kid in Morgantown, W.Va, living each day as a part of the community.
But as he grew up, he was introduced to the blessings and challenges of life as a football coach. This Saturday, Cignetti returns to Morgantown as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator, looking to help his team get back into the win column following a tough Week 2 loss at home to Cincinnati.
The trip certainly comes with its share of pressure, as Pitt looks to avoid a 1-2 start. And for Cignetti, it will also include large waves of nostalgia and emotion, as it marks his first time back in his hometown since his father passed away last September.
Learning about the life
Frank Cignetti Sr. wasn’t just a father to his two sons; he was also their coaching mentor. Curt and Frank Cignetti Jr. were introduced to life as a college football coach at birth. Both boys grew up around the game and the life that came along with it for those involved.
“I loved being a coach’s son,” Cingetti Jr. said. “There was nothing better. I loved sports. I loved football.”
“I enjoyed every second of it,” Curt Cignetti added. “Being a coach’s son was a blast.”
Frank Cignetti Sr. served as an assistant coach at West Virginia from 1970 through 1975. Then, after Bowden departed to Florida State, Cignetti Sr. filled his spot as the Mountaineers head coach for the remainder of the decade.
Cignetti Jr. looks back on his childhood in Morgantown with mostly fond memories. As a coach who has become familiar with life in both the collegiate and professional scenes, Cignetti Jr. says he prefers the college game more because of the community aspect it provides for everyone involved.
“I’d go to the baseball camp,” Cignetti Jr. said. “I’d go to the basketball camp. I’d go to the creative arts center. There were things to do as part of the WVU community.”
As Frank Jr. grew older, his experiences became more meaningful and his observations more powerful. While rushing the field after the Mountaineers win over Pitt in 1975 is still a core memory, Cignetti Jr. said he began to truly understand and appreciate what his dad truly did, both inside and away from the facility.
By the time he was a teenager, Cignetti Jr. realized that he also hoped to be a coach. He believes that inspiration came from watching his dad in action.
“At the end of the day, it was never about winning and losing,” Cignetti Jr. recalled. “It was about helping people be their best on and off the field. Every day I think about that because for me to live up to my father’s expectations, it’s about making a difference in people’s lives on and off the field.”
Cignetti Sr.'s impact at WVU isn’t best captured by his 17-27 career record as a head coach. Instead, his efforts are best displayed at the “new” Mountaineer Field, something those who were around the program at the time claim he played an instrumental role in developing.
“When I was being recruited, they didn’t even show me or anyone else in my class old Mountaineer field,” former West Virginia quarterback Oliver Luck recalled to the Post-Gazette. “They took us out to what was then a nine-hole golf course and showed us drawings of the new stadium, which was awesome. They laid out what the future was, and Frank was a huge part of that effort.”
Serving as a program’s head coach while also trying to generate funds for a new stadium isn’t easy. Those two things become even more difficult when one is also battling cancer, which was the case for Cignetti Sr. during his final two years at West Virginia.
In 1978, Cignetti Sr. was diagnosed with lymphomatoid granulomatosis, a disease that was so rare at the time, there were no survival rate statistics available. Frank Jr. recalls the many instances he and his sister would finish their middle school basketball practices and make the mile walk over to the medical center on campus to see their father, who a few times came very close to losing his life.
“When he was the head coach at WVU, he had his last rites twice,” Cignetti Jr. said. “There were multiple times where the team doctors at WVU came to our house, sat us down and said, ‘Look, it’s over,’ but my dad went on to live 40 more years.”
Throughout his recovery process, Cignetti Sr. remained dedicated to both his program and family. His son recalled many times Frank Sr. would host coaches meetings at their family home because he didn’t have the energy to leave. Cignetti Jr. believes that his dad’s desire to help others is what helped him ultimately pull through.
However, despite his hard work, following a 5-6 season in 1979, Cignetti Sr. was fired. While the decision is still something that doesn’t sit well with his youngest son, in the end, it opened a door for Frank Sr. to reach the ultimate heights of his coaching career.
Cignetti Sr.’s next stop was at IUP, where he served as the program’s head coach from 1986 through 2005. He retired with a record of 182-50-1, 28 playoff appearances and 15 postseason wins, a resume good enough to earn him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Throughout Frank Sr.’s success at IUP, Cignetti Jr. had the opportunity to both play for and then coach alongside his old man, learning day by day the ins and outs of the “family business.” By 1989, both Curt and Frank Cignetti Jr. were following their father’s footsteps, and their respective journeys continue today, over a year after his passing.
One final brawl
As a Western Pennsylvania native and a former coach at both Pitt (assistant from 1966-1968) and West Virginia, perhaps it’s fitting that Cignetti Sr.’s last moments of cognizance took place while watching last year’s Backyard Brawl.
While Frank Jr. was calling in plays to help Pitt earn its 38-31 season opening victory, Frank Sr. was watching from his daughter’s home in Ross Township until, near the end of the third quarter, he was believed to had suffered a stroke.
Cignetti Jr. didn’t hear the news until long after the game, when he and his wife were driving home. After being informed, Cignetti Jr. said he drove his wife home and went straight to the hospital to spend whatever time he had left with his father, something he said played a major factor in why he chose to return to Pitt that previous offseason.
Just one week later, Frank Cignetti Sr. was gone. Frank Jr. learned of his dad’s passing around 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10, just under five hours before the Panthers were set to kick off against No. 24 Tennessee at Acrisure Stadium. The news wasn’t a shock, but still painful.
However, after informing Pat Narduzzi, it was time to get back to work.
Both Frank Cignetti Jr. and brother Curt coached their teams the day of their father’s passing. Each of them knew that despite the heartbreak they felt, there was still a job to be done. Frank Jr. was on the losing end of a 34-27 battle that went to overtime, while Curt, who is the head coach at James Madison, led his squad to a 63-7 blowout victory over Norfolk State.
“There was no doubt that [Frank] was going to coach the game,” Narduzzi said after Pitt’s loss to the Vols. “It was a major sacrifice.”
Although the results on the scoreboard varied, Cignetti Jr. believes both he and his brother made their father proud.
“As a football coach, you have a responsibility to the football family — the staff, the team and even the fans,” Cignetti Jr. explained. “You owe it to these kids to put them in a position to be successful. It’s not about the game of football. It’s about going out there and helping these people.”
Moving on
As Frank Cignetti Jr. learned from watching his father throughout his childhood, life as a college football coach doesn’t come with many moments to relax and regroup. While most people take time away from work or other day-to-day responsibilities after losing a loved one, Cignetti Jr. continued to coach for the remainder of Pitt’s 2022 season.
After helping lead Pitt to a victory over No. 18 UCLA in the Sun Bowl, Cignetti, like every other coach on Narduzzi’s staff, hit the recruiting trail. After that came spring ball. And then finally, summer time, which is when he said he was finally able to come to terms with his father no longer being around.
“There was no time to feel sorry for myself,” Cignetti told the Post-Gazette during an interview in July. “ ... I’m just starting to feel myself again, to be honest with you.”
Today, Cignetti believes the best way to honor his father is by approaching his job in a similar manner. Those on Pitt’s offense pridefully boast about Cignetti’s knowledge of the game. But they say his football acumen is only part of why they enjoy playing for him.
“I think the most admirable thing about him is how he’s able to step away from the game,” said starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who also played under Cignetti at Boston College. “He talks about how he’s able to not bring football back to his family, but I also think he’s obsessed with football. So being able to do that shows how football isn’t the most important thing in the world, that how you treat people, treat your family matters.”
In addition to remembering his father through his own actions, Cignetti Jr. will have a deeper opportunity to reflect upon who Frank Sr. truly was Saturday during Pitt’s road matchup in Morgantown.
This weekend will mark the fourth time Cignetti returns to Mountaineer Field. The first was when the new stadium opened in 1980. While Cignetti held — and still does hold — a great deal of resentment toward the university for firing his father, he wanted to be in attendance to see his dad’s hard work come to fruition. Cignetti’s next trip back home was as a graduate assistant in 1989, when Pitt tied the Mountaineers 31-31.
“The Pitt coaches and West Virginia coaches were on the same elevator after the game,” Cignetti recalled. “I knew a lot of those West Virginia coaches because coach [Don] Nehlen kept a lot of my dad’s guys. On the elevator, we were excited. We had just hit the field goal to tie the game. It felt like we were victorious. And I know how those West Virginia coaches felt, because there is nothing better than beating Pitt when you’re at WVU.”
Cignetti’s most recent trip to Morgantown was the least fortunate of the three, when he and the No. 8 Panthers were upset 19-16 by West Virginia thanks to a 43-yard field goal by Tyler Bitancurt as time expired. He enters Saturday looking for his first win as a coach on West Virginia’s campus — one that he hopes will come after a very emotional start to the day.
“When I walk in that stadium when we play them, I’ll probably go to midfield, like I did when I was younger, and reflect upon everything,” Cignetti said. “My father built that stadium. I’m sure I will have a moment where I can stand there at midfield and think about my father’s legacy and how proud I am of him. There will be a lot of emotions because, hey, I grew up there.
“But then, we’ve got a job to do.”
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: September 13, 2023, 2:35 p.m.
Updated: September 13, 2023, 4:42 p.m.
