Well before Frank Cignetti became IUP's Director of Intercollegiate Ath- letics in 1982 (and head football coach in 1986), he had compiled a record of success more than sufficient to merit selection as an inaugural inductee of his alma mater's Athletic Hall of Fame.
The criteria on which his induction is based centered on achievements as a football and basketball player for the Indians before graduating in 1960 and 22-year career as high school and collegiate football coach and as a university athletics administrator prior to returning to IUP.
His football credentials as an offensive end at what was then Indiana State Teachers College are topped by a 1959 NAIA All-American honor, the first for any player in IUP history, and inclusion on an "All-Time" (1927-60) ISTC grid team picked by sportswriters. He was team MVP in '58 and
'59.
Lesser known to modern-day IUP followers is that Cignetti was a three-year letterman for coach Peck McKnight's roundball team in the late Fifties. His sophomore season saw the Indians advance for the first time to the fabled NAIA national tournament, representing all of Pennsylvania, in 1957-
58.
By 1962, Cignetti was a high school head grid coach, at Leechburg, in his home-area Kiski Valley. Posting a 10-0 record to win the 1965 WPIAL Class A championship there prompted head coach Dave Hart and the University of Pittsburgh to hire him as their quarterback and receivers coach.
After sampling the Ivy League for a year as offensive coordinator at Pri- nceton University, Cignetti returned in 1970 to more familiar territory, as offensive coordinator for Bobby Bowden at West Virginia University.
When Bowden moved to the University of Florida, he became head coach of the Mountaineers. While his four-year (1976-79) record at WVU was not winning, he was credited with building a stability in recruiting and academic-related concerns that has had a great deal to do with West Virginia's success to this day.
From '79 until 1982, he was administrative assistant to the athletic direct or at WVU. In that role, he was instrumental in upgrading athletic facilities and led the stadium task force that coordinated the construction of and transition into WVU's state-of-the-art facility, a project he had spearheaded as coach.
His family, the Cignetti team that means the most to him, includes wife Marlene, sons Curt and Frank Jr. (assistant grid coaches at Pitt and IUP respectively) and daughters Lisa Ciarrocca, a 1986 IUP grad who has been an elementary teacher, and Theresa, now completing an IUP degree in finance.
