Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 2025 College Football National Champions, the Indiana University Hoosiers.
(01:47)
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, accompanied by Curt Cignetti, head coach of the Indiana University Hoosiers and Charlie Becker.
President Trump (02:49):
Well, thank you very much everybody. This is an honor. I watched that game. I watched these guys. They can play. They can play. And they were a little underestimated, but I just said, but not anymore. They're not underestimated anymore. They were incredible talents. So today it's my great honor to welcome the 2025 College Football National Champions, the Indiana University Hoosiers.
(03:21)
And I want to say that, JD's right over here, he likes Indiana. We won Indiana by a lot. It always helps when you win it by a lot. I think we won them all by a lot, you want to know the truth, but they just forgot to put that down. But we won by a lot. We just had a big victory. We beat seven out of eight candidates that were running against Trump. That was good. And the only reason we lost the other one is they had two people running, they split up their vote. I can't believe I let that happen.
(03:52)
But we're joined today by Vice President JD Vance. He's fantastic. JD, stand up for a second, will you. And his sons, Ewen and Vivek as well as Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum. Doug, great secretary. We're doing now the reflective pond and we saved about $600 million or something. It's going to be beautiful. It'll open about two weeks and it's going to be incredible. They've been trying to get it open for years. They had no idea what they were doing, but we know how to do it, Doug. And it took us two weeks versus the projected four years. People would not understand it, but you've done a fantastic job.
(04:37)
Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. Brooke, thank you. Get those prices down. They're coming down. I see prices. We inherited the worst inflation in history. She's getting the prices down big. Thanks, Brooke. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, doing a wonderful job. Thank you, Howard. Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling. Thank you, Keith. Good job. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright's supposed to be the best in the business. Well, you know what? I figured it would triple what we did. We had to make an excursion to the beautiful country of Iran. We didn't want to let them have a nuclear weapon and we made the right decision and we've got it pretty good and those prices are going to come crashing down as soon as that's over. We're taken care of. We've got to take care of business. Great job. You're doing a great job. Thank you, Chris.
(05:32)
HUD Secretary Scott Turner, former NFL player, by the way. A great guy. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, one of the most important men anywhere in the world. We need more tariffs, Jamieson. We need more tariffs. And SBA administrator who's fantastic, Kelly Loeffler. Thank you, Kelly. And I see Kevin over there. I don't know if they have your name now, Jeff. Can we stand up? You were so good on television over the weekend. Thank you. Kevin Hassett. Thank you, Carol. Thanks also to senators. Todd Young. Where's Todd? Thank you. Thank you, Todd. You have a great group of people. What a group. This is a big day for Todd and Jim Banks. Jim, stand up. Where are you? Senator Banks. My friend for a long time.
(06:29)
And Representatives, Marlin Stutzman, Jim Baird, Rudy Yakym, Erin Houchin and Nick Begich. Say thank you all. Warriors. We also have Mark Messmer, Jefferson Shreve and Victoria Spartz. Hi, Victoria. Victoria spot. She's been very good. On occasion, she gets a little bit bad, a little nessy, but she is good and she's smart and she's always with us. Thank you, Victoria. Appreciate it. Also with us is a speaker of the Indiana House, Todd Hudson. Thank you, Todd. Thank you, Todd. You guys have been great. Indiana Senate Majority Floor Leader, Chris Garten. These are all people that were with me, right, Chris? We don't have any of those insurgents, do we? We had a big ... They don't know what I'm talking about behind me because they're into football, but we had a little insurgency in Indiana that didn't last very long. We had what a great group of people we had.
(07:41)
We have many of the Republican patriots from the great state of Indiana, including Trevor De Vries, Brian Schmutzler, Blake Fiechter, Tracy Powell, Jeff Ellington, Michelle Davis, who last week had a big primary election evolve. Are you better people? I love you people. That was carried all over the world. They ran against people that were there for 20, 25 years and they were, let's see. Yeah, I'd say young, certainly young, but they were not expected to win. They were down by 25 or 30 points. We endorsed them and they won in a landslide. Thank you very much. Congratulations. You'll be there a long time. Thank you very much. That was a story heard around the political world, wasn't it? Wow. That's so nice that you're here. Actually, they're my favorite people right now in the audience. I don't care about that, Jim Banks. They're my favorite people.
(08:45)
We're also joined by the great Sage Steele who's a fantastic person and a supporter and a friend of mine. Thank you. Thank you. And former NFL quarterback, Trent Green, great quarterback. Where's Trent? Hi, Trent. Great job. That's a good quarterback. This was a year that will live forever in the hearts of Indiana football fans. It was an exciting year for football, but maybe you're the biggest story. I think, Coach, you're the biggest story. There's no story like this. The Hoosiers delivered the program's first ever undefeated, untied season and capped it off with their first ever national title. That's amazing. That's a nice [inaudible 00:09:48]-
(09:48)
There's a lot of muscle out there.
(09:49)
The national signing day, think of this, the press conference in 2023, shortly after joining Indiana, Curt, who's Curt? Curt Cignetti. Where is Curt Cignetti? Right here. Huh? Oh, come here. Come here. Curt Cignetti has turned out to be, I believe, I think he's the coach of the last decade because he took a team. Nobody knew him. Nobody knew the team and he ended up taking this team all the way. People were betting against you all the way, Curt. He took over in 2023 following a really bleak three and nine season and immediately set a tone that few people have seen, I think of the history of college football. At the National Signing Day press conference in 2023 shortly after joining Indiana, Curt was asked how he communicates his vision to recruits. And he said, "It's pretty simple. I win. I just know how to win." That's a very cocky guy. I don't like people like that.
(10:59)
I like this guy. Just two years later, he brought home the national championship. So when you do that stuff, you have to be able to produce, when you act that way. Muhammad Ali used to get up there. Over the years, I've seen people that did it better than Muhammad Ali. The problem is they couldn't fight properly. They lost. You can't do that and lose. But very special coach, I'll tell you that. I just got to know him a little bit backstage and he's a winner. Every player in this team shared their coach's winning mindset and they executed with unbelievable skill. They're skilled people. This season was also historic because starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Now the reason he's not here, he was so nice he called because he has actually JD's a big fan of ours. You wouldn't believe it because he didn't show up. I'm not happy, but that's okay. The reason he didn't because he's at spring training, right?
Curt Cignetti (11:57):
Correct.
President Trump (11:57):
And I actually said, you really let him ... He's got to win. And I think he's going to win pretty early coach, right? You think pretty good?
Curt Cignetti (12:05):
Time will tell.
President Trump (12:06):
He's going to be a good win. Time will tell. A lot of people said they're going to win, but I think he will. No, he's been great. And he's at spring training, like his first day or something. I said, "You better go there." But he became Indiana his first ... Otherwise, if I didn't do that, believe me, I wouldn't have even talked about him. He was not here for other reasons, like he didn't like Trump or he didn't want to come, I wouldn't even mention him. I'd go through the whole and talk about how great ... I wouldn't even mention the quarterback's name, but he's a great guy actually and he is actually a big fan of what we're doing for our country. But he became Indiana's first ever Heisman trophy winner, right Coach?
Curt Cignetti (12:46):
That's right.
President Trump (12:49):
And Fernando completed 226 of 316 passes. That's good. Throwing for 2,980 yards. Let's round it off for 3,000. Okay. I'm going to round that off a little bit, coach. 3,000 yards and a nation leading 33 touchdowns. Fernando couldn't be here today because, as I said, he's now a member of the Las Vegas Raiders and let's see how good a team they have and I think he's going to do great. He's a winner. With Fernando's help and a stacked lineup, Indiana utterly dominated in the regular season, winning 10 out of 12 games by double digit margins. In the first three games Indiana outscored their opponents, wow, 156 to 23. I think they have a good coach. And they closed the regular season by crushing their in state rival Purdue always a good team, 56 to three. That's pretty cool. Nice memories.
(13:53)
But things weren't as straightforward in the Big 10 Championship against Ohio State. That was a tough one. Indiana entered the game known for its rock solid defense and actually known for college basketball, to be honest with you. And now I think they're going to be known for football. But they entered the game against Ohio State and people really, I think they thought of Ohio State as being almost unbeatable and brought back one of the most explosive offenses in the nation. Ohio State did. But in the end, the Hoosiers prevailed over the Buckeyes Junior linebacker. Isaiah Jones, where's Isaiah?
(14:30)
[inaudible 00:14:36]
Curt Cignetti (14:37):
He can play.
President Trump (14:37):
I said, "How good is he coach?" He said he can play. Let me see. He's a good looking guy. I don't like good looking people. I don't like good looking men at all, believe me. But he recorded two of Indiana's first five sacks. Think of that. So he had five sacks. Well, helping the team secure a hard fort 13 to 10 victory, really against a great football power. That's a big honor.
(15:04)
Next up was the Rose Bowl where Indiana delivered a commanding 38 to three victory over Alabama. Coach.
Curt Cignetti (15:12):
Roll tide.
President Trump (15:15):
You got to be kidding. That's right over Alabama. That's a big one. After a scoreless first quarter, the Hoosiers broke through and never looked back to feeding the Crimson Tide is no small feat and it wouldn't have been possible without starting center Pat Coogan, where's Pat?
Charlie Becker (15:34):
He's at Titans [inaudible 00:15:35]
Curt Cignetti (15:35):
Not here. NFL mini camp.
President Trump (15:35):
Oh. He's at training camp. Forget this. Forget training camp. But he's a good fan coach, right?
Curt Cignetti (15:41):
Absolutely.
President Trump (15:42):
Okay, good. I'm glad I mentioned his name. That's good. Say hello to him. That's a big deal. In recognition of his dominant performance, Pat became the first offensive lineman since 1944 to be named the Rose Bowl's most valuable player. Pat is busy today in training camp. That's great. Is he that good?
Curt Cignetti (16:02):
Oh, yeah.
President Trump (16:02):
Is Pat Coogan that good?
Group (16:03):
Yes, sir.
President Trump (16:03):
Seriously good.
Curt Cignetti (16:06):
We got 15 of them in training camp right now.
President Trump (16:08):
Is that right?
Curt Cignetti (16:09):
Yeah.
President Trump (16:09):
Wow. 15 in training camp. Wow. How many potentials do you have back there? A lot.
Curt Cignetti (16:18):
Quite a few.
President Trump (16:18):
Quite a few potentials. In the Peach Bowl, Indiana shattered Oregon's confidence. That was another one. Oregon was supposed to be a hot team. I watched it. I said, "What's going on here?" But they shattered Oregon's confidence right out of the gate when during the first play of the game. Cornerback D'Angelo Ponds, what a good name. Intercepted the ball. Where's D'Angelo?
Curt Cignetti (16:40):
Training camp.
Charlie Becker (16:41):
Training camp.
President Trump (16:41):
Oh, I can't believe it. No wonder you won.
Curt Cignetti (16:46):
He was a junior.
President Trump (16:47):
Wow. How good? Really good?
Curt Cignetti (16:50):
Really good.
President Trump (16:50):
Intercepted the ball, ran it back for the game's first touchdown. After securing a commanding 56 to 22 victory this team was off to the championship. In the championship game against Miami, Indiana held a narrow 10-nothing lead at halftime controlling the pace but unable to pull away. The score remained low for most of the game, but everything changed in the fourth quarter, that's true. With under 10 minutes remaining Indiana faced a critical fourth, no coach in America would have done what this guy did. I said, "This guy is making such a mistake and he won." That was a hell of a play. That's the kind of play. If they don't do that play, if it doesn't work, that's like career threatening, right?
Curt Cignetti (17:36):
Got to play to win.
President Trump (17:37):
You got to play. It was great. On Miami 13 yard line, Fernando took the snap and powered through the defense past the first down marker before launching himself into the end zone, extending Indiana's league 24-14. But Miami wasn't done yet. The hurricanes took possession and scored cutting Indiana's lead 24 to 21. Indiana got the ball once more and put three more points on the board, pushing the score to 27, 21. I mean, you have to see this game. I would say that coach, I know he's got a good reputation. This guy is calling the wrong place, but he kept winning. They kept scoring. They kept doing all this stuff. The things that weren't supposed to happen, you're just lucky you won that game because if you didn't, they would have said, "This coach is crazy." That's why he's a great coach.
(18:33)
With just 51 seconds left to tie the game and deep within Indiana's territory, Miami's quarterback fired off a 30 yard pass only to be intercepted by junior, Jamari Sharpe. Where's Jamari?
Curt Cignetti (18:45):
Jamari.
President Trump (18:53):
Jamari. Come on up. Come here. Look at this. Want to say something? Go ahead. Tell him how good that felt.
Jamari Sharpe (19:02):
Coach Cig's a very good coach. Once he first came to Indiana, I didn't know if I was going to stay, but I stayed and I'm glad I stayed because we won a National Championship.
President Trump (19:11):
He doesn't want to leave the stage. Good looking guy, huh? Thank you.
Jamari Sharpe (19:18):
Thank you.
President Trump (19:19):
He didn't want to leave the stage. He's a natural. So the hurricanes are great. The team is so great. Jamari, I want to thank you for getting up and making such a rousing speech. By the way, a lot of people don't do that. A lot of times I'll do that and they say, "I don't want to talk." But he's got a future in a lot of things, probably football, first of all. From there the outcome was sealed and the Hoosiers became National Champions. Think of that, right? I was there. You went through a lot of great teams when you think, and real football powerhouses over the years, that's pretty intimidating.
Curt Cignetti (19:58):
Six top 10 teams.
President Trump (19:59):
Yeah. They're amazing. Top 10s. This team lifted the Indiana football program from a historic low. It really didn't have a good reputation over there, but tells you what coaching means too. But your grit and discipline and your belief and your strength of character. The coach, I think he's just an incredible ... I think it's an incredible story. When I heard they were coming today, I said, "I got to meet that coach because he came out of like high school, a great high school program, but you made it good. But what you did is something that I don't think anybody's ever really done in college football history. How is your team going to be this year, Coach? What do you think?
Curt Cignetti (20:40):
Well, we got a chance, if we commit and if we have discipline and a great work ethic and if we can handle success and we can handle failure and we're consistent day in, day out, we might have a chance.
President Trump (20:52):
How about this guy? Is he central casting or what? I got to watch you. I'm going to watch you. You're amazing. You've made the fans really proud and inspired millions. All of you, the coach and the players and reminded everyone that with determination and lots of hard work, anything's possible. And I said to the coach, we have a very special area. Well, that's very special. We're building a beautiful ballroom. You can see it's not too small, Coach. For 150 years they've wanted a ballroom. We're going to give him the greatest ballroom anywhere in the country. I'm very good at ballrooms. I'm very good at building things.
(21:29)
But I said to the Coach, there's a special place here and it's called the Oval Office, everything sort of begins, ends and rebegins again. And I said, "If you like, Coach, I'll take your entire team back" and we're going to go to the Oval Office, show him the Oval Office and we're going to give him a very, very special medal. And I said, "So what do you want to do, Coach?" He said, "We want to go ... " Hold it. You guys want to go to the Oval Office?
Group (21:57):
Yes. Yes, sir.
President Trump (21:58):
I had a feeling you would say that. I had a feeling. So Coach, say a few words. I'm really honored to be with this guy because he took something from ... It's not like he inherited a great program. He inherited something that was less than great and he made it into something that probably has never been done at this level, never been done before. Congratulations, Coach.
(22:20)
[inaudible 00:22:24]
Curt Cignetti (22:25):
Thank you. Got a lot of Hoosiers in the stands here and behind me. We got to give them one, one, two, three. Who? Who? Who? Hoosiers. Right? One, two, three. Who? Who? Who?
Group (22:35):
Hoosiers.
Curt Cignetti (22:39):
You got that? Okay. Thank you. That's a lot of nice accolades there. Appreciate all that. It all starts with Pam Whitten, our president, Scott Dolson, our athletic director. You got to have a commitment at the top. Without a commitment at the top, nothing's possible. Okay. 2025 Indiana Hoosiers. All right. '24 was a fluke, right? College Football Playoffs, start out 10 and 0. They won't be very good. All right 16 and 0. That's the best record in college football since 1894. That's 132 years. That's before the NCAA. So safe to say that's the greatest record in college football history.
(23:37)
Beat six top 10 teams. All right. How did we get that done? All right. We had great people. On the staff that thought alike. In the locker room that thought alike. Great leadership, good talent, great character, coachable, 11 guys doing their job, play in play out. All right. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts and the most consistent day in, day out, meeting in, meeting out, practice in, practice out, group I've ever seen in my life. To me, it's a simple message, prepare the right way every single day to a high standard and anything is possible in life. The only limitations are those between your ears and you can't have any of those either. So go IU.
(24:31)
Now, it's my pleasure to introduce junior wide receiver, Charlie Becker from Nashville, Tennessee, or as Gus Johnson would say, Charlie B. from Nashville, Tennessee.
Group (24:44):
[inaudible 00:24:48]
Charlie Becker (24:50):
How's it going everybody? First of all, I just would like to thank Mr. President. Thank you so much for having us.
President Trump (24:57):
Thank you.
Charlie Becker (24:58):
This is an honor. I know I speak behalf of my team by saying we're going to remember this for the rest of our lives. And secondly, I would just like to thank all the Hoosier fans out there. From the start of the season to the end of the season, y'all were there through the highs and the lows and none of this is possible without y'all. So thank you guys and go IU.
Curt Cignetti (25:20):
All right. And our appreciation for this great visit today for President Trump, we have some Hoosier gear, which a couple of years ago they were giving away. Now you got to pay a lot of money for this stuff. So really appreciate this great opportunity and this great day. Thank you very much.
President Trump (25:37):
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Curt Cignetti (25:37):
There you go. 47.
President Trump (25:37):
That's nice.
Curt Cignetti (25:37):
How about that? I think we got one picture. Yep. All right.
President Trump (25:38):
I like this guy. That's great, Coach. Thank you. What else do you have over there? How about a helmet?
Curt Cignetti (26:00):
Here we go. We got a signed football, 16 and 0. Fast, physical, relentless, go IU.
President Trump (26:05):
Wow.
Curt Cignetti (26:05):
Curt Cignetti and players.
President Trump (26:07):
That's great. [inaudible 00:26:12].
Charlie Becker (26:14):
We just got an IU helmet also.
President Trump (26:19):
Thank you.
Charlie Becker (26:19):
Yes, sir.
Curt Cignetti (26:24):
We'll let you keep the trophy for an NIL contribution.
President Trump (26:26):
I'll do that. I'll do that for NIL. Boy, oh boy, did the court screw us up, huh? It's all right. Whatever happened it seems to be working for you and you're going to make it very successful. You're going to create something very, very successful. I have no doubt.
(26:47)
So we're going to take the players now to the Oval Office and they're going to get a little glimpse at some ... I think it's the most important piece of real estate anywhere in the world in terms of victory and in terms of winning and in terms of things that are happening. Things are happening right now. Our country, a little bit like your team, our country a year and a half ago was laughed at. We were mocked and now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. There's nobody close. We're the greatest military in the world. We're unparalleled and we're doing a job. We've made America great again and this team has got a tremendous future.
(27:28)
Don't lose the coach. She said, "We can't lose a coach." It's a piece of work, right? We're not going to lose him. But I just want to thank everybody. It's a great turnout. It's a great turnout. But we do this a lot and there's always spirit for a winning team. We have all the teams come here, but this was one I really look forward to because the story of Indiana University is a really a legendary story. It's a very unusual story. We have a lot of teams where they win and they keep winning and they keep winning. They don't know what it is. And you have some that lose and get a little bit lucky. This is a team that came out from really a program that was a basketball program largely and now it's a great, great football program and you're going to have a tremendous year.
(28:10)
It's a fantastic group and I look forward to watching. It's going to be a very interesting, but you're going to have a great year. I know people like this, there are very few of them, never bet against a guy like this, I'm telling you, never bet against a guy like Curt. So thank you Curt and Coach very much. Okay? Thank you very much.
(28:29)
Thank you everybody. We're going to take him to the Oval Office. Thank you. Let's go, fellas. Follow us.
(28:39)
[inaudible 00:28:39]