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Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports

ATLANTA -- Yes, Curt Cignetti is capable of smiling.

He is, in fact, capable of having fun.

"There's a lot of times I am happy," Cignetti protested this week, "I just don't show I'm happy." 

And the internet loves him for it. 

The 64-year-old Indiana football coach has become a viral social media sensation for a sideline demeanor that is delightfully grumpy. The people don't want to see him smiling; they want to see him shooting another death-stare.

It hit a crescendo during Indiana's 38-3 throttling of Alabama in the Rose Bowl. After Alabama lined up in a fake punt formation to attempt to draw Indiana offside, Cignetti's intense look said it all. The internet loved it, spawning a wave of memes, screenshots and posts. 

It's a Cignetti look that former players, coaches and administrators have grown familiar with over the years. The only difference is that there have never been more eyes and cameras attuned to the coach, who has seemingly embraced it.

"It almost looks like he's trying to find the camera at times," says former James Madison quarterback Ben DiNucci. "He knows people are watching to give people what they want."

Whether intentional or not, Cignetti's grouchy demeanor has earned him plenty of fans and drawn comparisons to his former boss, Nick Saban, who famously looked displeased 99.9% of his time coaching on the sidelines. The more unimpressed he appears to be, the more fans seem to love it. 

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Those who know Cignetti well said he's not trying to be the Grinch. But he has a rare ability to put blinders on, especially during games, and focus on only one thing: winning. He's not getting too high after a big play or despondent after a negative one. It's all about what is coming next and how he can do everything in his power to give his team the best chance to win. The stoic expression doesn't change, no matter what the scoreboard says. 

"Honestly, early on at JMU, I couldn't really read him," said star Indiana cornerback D'Angelo Ponds. "I used to call him Batman. I couldn't really read what he was doing, but once you kind of get to know him, you understand what his reactions to everything are."

As James Madison's director of football operations, James Ferguson used to stand right next to Cignetti during games. He still thinks the world of Cignetti and raves about him as a boss who "gets it" and doesn't needlessly push his staff to be in the office at all hours. He went with him from Division II IUP to FCS Elon and, finally, to James Madison. He, like many who have been along the ride, isn't surprised by Cignetti's success.

And for as football-obsessed as Cignetti is and was, he even moved a spring practice date so he, offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and others could attend Ferguson's wedding. Perhaps most significantly, he did that after Ferguson had already left football for a job on the university side at Elon.

That's the kind of guy Cignetti is, Ferguson says. But when he's inside a football stadium, that's all put to the side. 

"What he's thinking about there on the sideline is the time, the situation, the (down and distance), the next play," Ferguson told CBS Sports. "He's talking with Mike on the headset and says what he's looking at. He's looking at the time on the clock. He's not going to be on the sideline being a big rah-rah guy. You'll see him postgame showing emotion and pregame showing emotion, but when it comes to ball, he's locked in, and it never changes."

There are two things you hear about Cignetti over and over again from those who were with him all the way back to the IUP days. He's obsessed with ball, and he really hasn't changed much in the last 20 years.

Sure, he may be a bit more outwardly confident now. Twenty years ago at IUP, it's not like anyone could have predicted the coaching lifer would be dropping one-liners like "I win. Google me," or frequently appearing on major national television channels. Cignetti's confident finger gun point to Pat McAfee before running out of the Rose Bowl tunnel had the group chats fired up. 

Said DiNucci, "That's how you know you're ready to play ball." 

The core never changed, though. He's always been internally confident in his abilities and football acumen. He's exceptionally intentional in everything that he does, a skill that he picked up from Saban and his father, Frank Cignetti Sr. He's not exactly a social butterfly and can even be a little stilted when the conversation drifts away from football. Paul Tortorella, who worked for both Cignettis at IUP before taking over when Curt left, says the two are "in some ways alike and some ways totally opposite. Frank was more laidback, not quite as intense as Curt." 

What you appreciate about Cignetti, though, is that he knows what he's talking about. He's highly intelligent, according to his former IUP athletic director Steve Roach, but he doesn't flaunt or tout it. He's not going to waste your time with small talk and niceties. 

"He's not a side-chatter guy," Roach says. "He's straightforward. He is to the point ... what you see is what you get. That's what's great about him. I think why he's successful is there's no fluff to him."

Roach can still remember a long car drive with Cignetti to a Division II playoff game. There was no conversing about Bruce Springsteen or wondering what they should eat once they got to their destination. It was a masterclass in football strategy as Cignetti detailed to his then-36-year-old boss what he expected to happen in the game.

"And then I watch the game unfold and watch him almost predict what's going to happen and how he was going to react as far as play-calling," Roach, now the deputy AD at Elon, says. "It was truly phenomenal."

It's moments like that that turn everyone around him into true believers. DiNucci, now a CBS Sports analyst, said Cignetti completely changed the way he viewed the quarterback position. It didn't take Cignetti long after arriving at JMU to identify what DiNucci did well, what he didn't, and how he could maximize his talents.

In his first year at JMU, DiNucci had thrown for 2,275 yards, 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

In his one season with Cignetti, he threw for 3,441 yards, 29 touchdowns and six interceptions. The Dallas Cowboys drafted him after that standout season, and he even started a few games in 2020 for the franchise.

Cignetti knew exactly how to talk to DiNucci and other players on that team. It wasn't some buzzword-laden message. He didn't then and doesn't now give long pregame speeches. He didn't have flashy recruiting pitches: Hes explain his background and the previous success he had, explains how you fit into that moving forward, and he explains his football philosophy. It's been a winning message, even if it isn't as polished or suave as what we've been told works best in recruiting.

"If we're not talking about football, it's kind of awkward to have a conversation with him," DiNucci said. "His brain and his mind are wired one way, and it has been for the last 25 years. He cares about one thing -- winning -- and whatever we have to do to make that happen.

"He's got an unbelievable way of conveying his message and what he wants his team to be." 

It has clearly worked wonders for an undefeated Indiana team one win away from playing in a national championship. Cignetti took over the losingest program in college football, injected some authentic confidence and elite game-planning into it, and has transformed it into the most remarkable story the sport has seen in many, many years. It has serious momentum, too, with a top incoming transfer portal class signaling that the Hoosiers don't look to be going anywhere. Cignetti's grumpy sideline demeanor has served as a beacon for top players who know they'll be coached hard, win big and well prepared for the next level. 

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And if Cignetti can win it all in Miami in 10 days, he promises he'll be happy. Just don't ask him to do too many interviews afterward.

"I'll smile and celebrate later in the coaches' room with the coaches," Cignetti said. "Maybe have a beer."