“It’s Pretty Simple. I Win. Google Me.”
Is it bragging if it’s true? The simple (I DID NOT SAY EASY!) formula for winning national championships in football and life.
An off-schedule post
This is an off-schedule post. That means something different or interesting is going on that warrants paying attention to. So, my friends, read on to find out more!
Introduction
It’s been hard not to follow and root for the Indiana Hoosiers college football team this season. Especially since the playoffs started, I’ve been consuming everything I can about them and their coach, Curt Cignetti. Since they won the college national championship on January 19, 2026, I’ve been concentrating my reading about coach Curt Cignetti and his very simple formula for success.
“What do you mean, simple, Dave! Don’t you know how hard it is to win a college football national championship?!?!?!“ Well, of course I do! But as I said, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and watching interviews in the past few weeks and I’ve concluded that his formula for success is remarkably similar to what we advocate at Afterburner Success Partners! Imagine that!
The key to getting what you want throughout your life is as simple as following a few basic principles and taking a few common actions that have been tested over and over for many years and proven to work. So you can generate winning teams, not just in football, but in business, in non-profits and even with your family and you personally. Yes! Do you want to win on or off the field? Then read on to learn more about what it takes to win. And you can do it yourself. Yes you can!
Winning ways for on and off field success
Oh, I almost forgot…Yes, I did say the formula, the process, and the principles are simple, didn’t I? And that’s a true statement. Right as rain Straight as an arrow. Honest Abe. What I did not say is that it is easy. “Oh, now wait a minute, Dave! That’s just a play on words!” Well, maybe. Or maybe not. It’s important to know the difference between simple and easy as we go through life. Ponder that statement for a moment.
Mowing the lawn is simple. Unless it’s 105 degrees and you are overweight. Shoveling 6” of snow is easy. Until you keel over in the nearest snow pile from exhaustion. I can tell you how to overhaul your lawnmower if you want to know. It’s easy. At least for me. Can you teach me to draw a picture or paint a painting? If you are an artist, then it’s simple. You don’t want to see my artwork because it’s not easy for me to draw or paint beautiful art. Many things in life are simple. Easy? Well, that may be another story.
You see, winning a national championship in college football is very, very difficult. Frankly, we all, for the most part know this. But whether it is winning football, business or in life, there are some “guidelines” that have been proven over the years to work. Before we get into what make Coach Cignetti a champion, and what you can do to be a champion in your field, let’s review a few examples that are near and dear to my heart, and that’s investments:
Warren Buffet, the 95-year-old, just retired leader of Berkshire Hathaway, started investing in 1942 when he was just 11 years old, by buying three preferred shares of Cities Service for himself and three for his sister at $38 a share. Mr. Buffett learned to invest from Columbia professor Benjamin Graham after reading his books Security Analysis (1934) and The Intelligent Investor (1949). His core principles of value investing and margin of safety are not exciting, but it’s hard to argue with his success leading Berkshire Hathaway for over 60 years. From 1965 through the end of 2024, Warren Buffett oversaw a cumulative gain in market value of 5,502,284%. This long-term return equaled an average annual gain of 19.9%, nearly double the 10.4% compound return of the S&P 500 during the same period
You may, if you are of a certain age, remember Peter Lynch the famous leader of the Fidelity Magellan mutual fund from 1977 to 1990. A key component of Mr. Lynch’s success was “Invest in what you know” and he had a few simple core philosophies such as long-term focus, patience, discipline and qualitative analysis (essentially using data and finding companies that had a competative advantage). Peter Lynch achieved an exceptional average annual total return of 29.2% during his from 1977 to 1990, consistently outperforming the S&P 500 (which averaged 14.47% during the same period) and made it the best-performing mutual fund in the world.
If you read or have read Investor’s Business Daily you will know about William O’Neal who invented the CAN SLIM method of investing in 1953 (Note 1). Following his formula, while simple but not easy, provided an annual average return from 1997 to mid 2025 of 12.9% (Note 2). I read his paper every day for many years from the late 1980s to mid 2000s. While I did not directly invest using the CAN SLIM method, I did follow the advice of stocks highlighted by Investor’s Business Daily with an imaginary mutual fund I “founded” that I called “The Giustozzi 15” which was a take on the Janus 20 mutual fund. I “invested” $100,000 in this fund of mine. Let me tell you about two of them I “bought” for the fund: Starbucks (SBUX) at its initial public offering in June 1992. It has enjoyed an annual average return of between 18.6% and 19.1% since. My “fund” did pretty well, and I “competed” with a few folks I worked with as we both followed William O’Neal’s advice from Investor’s Business Daily. One stock I did buy for myself, in and the “fund”: Aironet wireless, a maker of wireless equipment before we even knew what WI-FI was. I bought it at about $12 a share and when Cisco System acquired Aironet wireless in 1999, it had appreciated about 10 times. Which was better than my investment in America West Airlines right after the recent IPO for $9. I was happy to unload it for $2 later just before it went into bankruptcy. This is what happens when someone invests with their heart and emotions and not their head. I was living in Phoenix while in the US Air Force and attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the evening when in late 1983, we had a guest speaker: Doug Parker, the CEO of the recently started airline. Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid and went all in. Here’s the lesson: I’m not smarter than the market and I’m glad I learned that lesson in my mid 20s so I could correct.
While at Afterburner Success Partners we do not advocate seeking riches for the sake of riches, we do advocate learning about how to invest so your money can work for you so you can…what? Achieve your dreams and live your best life! Exactly!
So the point of these last few paragraphs were to highlight one particular area, investments, and make the point that to be successful, one only needs to follow proven principles and the principles of making money in investing are as old as when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed outside of 68 Wall Street in New York on May 17, 1792 which was the founding of the US stock market and the New York Stock Exchange (Note 3). Yes, there are the exceptions that can work, at least in the short term. Meme stocks, crypto, options, day trading, private equity and other novelty methods of investing may work. Maybe you bought Nvidia, or any of the magnificent seven stocks in the past few years. Maybe you hit it big in Vegas or won the lottery. Congratulations! You are probably feeling pretty good. Now, I challenge you, continue to do that for the next 60 years like Warren Buffett has. But then again, any of these strategies may not work all the time because the market is often emotional rather than logical. And often, when they don’t work, they don’t work very badly. Can you say Enron? How about Bernie Madoff? Are you willing to risk your life savings and your current or future retirement on a gamble? Remember the adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And this is not just in investing, it’s in life. Ponder that for a moment.
It’s the same with any endeavor you undertake. Unless, of course, you are plowing new ground and making your own market, invention or products. Then, you get to make the rules. For most of us however, we are in established endeavors and for the best outcomes, it’s best to follow the practices that are known to yield the best outcomes. Unless you are a disruptor, as in utilizing disruptive innovation, a concept we discussed last week.
OK, so back to Curt Cignetti and college football. What I’ve learned over the past few weeks is quite interesting. When I sum it up, there are a few new things I’ve learned, but frankly, what I learned is that his winning formula is really just part of a proven strategy for winning, just like the examples I just gave for investing. Whether it’s football or life, the formula for success is strikingly similar. Which is why, if you’ve been following my writing for a while, you will notice I often use analogies from sports and the military. Besides sports successes, have you seen what the US military did in recent months? Let’s look a little deeper, shall we?
What I’m going to do is save you all the reading I did and consolidate some of the points and comments made either about Curt Cignetti or comments he made himself. As you read these, consider your profession or your area of expertise and see if they align with best practices, that is doing what yields the results we desire (Note 4). Note: These comments came from various sources such as: The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CBS 60 Minutes, Sports Illustrated and other online and print media.
What others are saying
Instead of bellyaching about the radical changes to the sport, Cignetti became the old dog learning new tricks…Hey, this is a new world we are living in
Curt Cignetti is not lacking in confidence
He’s there for you
The 64-year-old taskmaster knows a lot more about spotting talent than most people
On leaving Alabama to smaller IUP…The 50-year-old CIgnetti took a risk
…has proven himself to be the premier evaluator in the country by hunting for underrated prospects and exploiting the transfer portal (Note 5)
When the NCAA created the transfer portal in 2018, his options expanded overnight
…has transformed the program with the most losses in college football history into the sports number 1 team
I just feel like he has a kind of sixth sense
He does not allow himself to be wooed by athletes with crazy vertical leaps and absurdly heavy dead lifts
(He’s) not going to get caught in the wow factor (of an athlete). It’s production over potential
The one quality Cignetti process above almost all others when sizing up a potential recruit, it’s hip, knee and ankle mobility. It’s a game of speed, quickness and explosive power
Cignetti now chases (individual) character-and flexible ankles- in equal measure
An underdog turned behemoth
An astonishing climb by one of college football’s most misbegotten programs. Indiana had not won a bowl game since 1991
Indiana completed a perfect, 16-0 season, one of the finest seasons of all time
Indiana leapt through every hoop, every ranking, every road game, every skeptic. They turned college football upside down
Cignetti’s got a lot of attention for his bravado and his menacing sideline presence…and stares like a customer who thinks the butcher’s hiding the best T-bones
His Hoosiers played disciplined, complete team football
Bruised and battered, Mendoza played like it was the last game of his college life, which it was, but he always played that way
The Hoosiers were proud that no one on their roster was a prized five-star recruit. “Misfits,” Mendoza called his teammates
The players say it (winning) isn’t a surprise, but what Indiana did defy all history and logic
It took a combination of every single element to transform Indiana
A perfect storm of bold coaching, undervalued talent and game changing guts
“That kid will walk through hell and back for this team,” Carter Smith describing Mendoza
Fernando and I worked on every single route at 5:30 in the morning (Charlie Becker, receiver). (Dave speaking. Did you catch that? He said 5:30 in the morning. Before most people are even out of bed)
We don’t like it when he runs, said Mendoza’s father, but, he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do
I think people are starting to realize that college football is now a job where you need a CEO
What coach Cignetti is saying
It’s pretty simple, I win. Google me
Everything is earned, not given
Nobody is promised anything
Every player will have to earn their spot at Indiana, regardless of past accolades
Nobody has anything, everything is earned. That’s how we run our program
I’m excited to lead this program forward and change the culture, mindset and expectation level of Hoosier football
I look forward to…building something special. (The Indiana leadership) shares my vision and belief that big things are ahead
You will see we’re not the biggest group of guys. We’re not the tallest, we’re not the heaviest
You just get better at it (recruiting) the more you evaluate
The two-year turnaround at Indiana would have been impossible without the transfer portal
Every move I made after I left Alabama prepared me for this moment
We’re going for it, Cignetti describing the 4th and 4 play where Mendoza ran the ball, and stretching vertically, make a 12 yard touchdown. We were all putting our bodies on the line, Mendoza said, so it was the least I could do for my brothers
Coach Cignetti was asked in a 60 Minutes interview, “What is the magic?” There is no magic here. It’s fundamentals. I’d would like to think the leader has a blueprint and a plan. Create the intangibles for your team, the culture, the mindset, the philosophy of how you want to play
Production over potential. No excuses/No shortcuts. Mental toughness. Direct communication-being straightforward and transparent. Efficiency and structure
I bet on myself
For more information
There is a lot of information out there about Coach Cignetti and you can find it pretty easily. Click on the link in Note 6 for a good overview of his life and history.
Summary
I’m confident that if you were to take the formula for the success of the Indiana Hoosiers 2025-2026 football team and compare it with any successful venture, you would see many similarities. Yes, there are differences related to the endeavor one is in, but at the end of the day, the formula for success is predictable, consistent and timeless. It’s simple. It’s just not easy.
Before you move on, please review, and ponder (my favorite word!) the comments about Coach Cignetti and his championship team and see if you are using these tools in your own life. You know what you have to do. Now get after it!
That’s all for this week!
The Formula for Winning is
Simple…
What’s in it for Me
If we want to get ahead in life, we need to be aware of the world around us and gain as much information as we possibly can. We need to be constantly learning from those who are successful. And, conversely, we need to learn what not to do from those who are not successful. If you have not established written goals for your lifetime plan and are acting on them, I might suggest taking the Afterburner Success Partner course, so we can learn how to prioritize what’s really important to use. Or maybe read the book. Or both!
Call to Action
Purchase the books by clicking on the link in Note 7 as mentioned above. Take the Afterburner Success Partners course
Recommended Resources
Buy and read Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide to Live Your Best Life by David Giustozzi (Note 7).
Up Next
Back to regular posting schedule.
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
A Guide to the CAN SLIM Stock Picking System: smartasset: https://smartasset.com/investing/can-slim
Weekly Stock Ideas: CAN SLIM: Seven Traits Shared by Top-Performing Stocks, American Association of Individual Investors: https://insights.aaii.com/p/weekly-stock-ideas-can-slim-seven
Library of Congress, Stock Exchanges: https://guides.loc.gov/wall-street-history/exchanges
Best practice defined: A best practice is a method or technique proven through research and experience to produce superior results, becoming a standard for efficiency, quality, or effectiveness in achieving a goal.
If you follow sports, changed in the rules to allow such things as NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), the transfer portal and gambling have made it difficult for many programs. Notice how Coach Cignetti exploited the transfer portal to become a competitive advantage for him and his team.
Curt Cignetti, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Cignetti
Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide to Live Your Best Life by David Giustozzi: https://amzn.to/3IxEFgy