HAMILTON \u2014 This month has been a whirlwind for Mitch McCarthy.<\/p>\n
It began at the New England Patriots\u2019 rookie camp, then came a quick trip to the White House before finally reporting to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats training camp. On Saturday, the Australian-born punter participated in his first CFL game, a 20-10 exhibition loss to the Toronto Argonauts.<\/p>\n
But if 2025 taught McCarthy anything, it was how to manage expectations, overcome adversity and successfully adapt to ever-changing situations. On Jan. 19, the 28-year-old capped his collegiate career celebrating an NCAA championship after the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers downed the Miami Hurricanes 27-21 for their first-ever College Football Playoff crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve processed it,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to kind of sit back, take it in and realize what I was a part of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some days I remind myself and it\u2019s something I\u2019m really proud of. It was a rare moment I was part of and a rare team that I was on. It\u2019s one of those things you just look back on and smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
The national championship marked an amazing turnaround for Indiana under head coach Curt Cignetti. After leading the Hoosiers to an 11-2 record that included a first CFP appearance in 2024, Cignetti guided the upstart Hoosiers to a unblemished 16-0 mark last year.<\/p>\n
And he did it with brash confidence and swagger. Upon being hired at Indiana, the colourful Cignetti made headlines by stating, \u201cIf you don\u2019t know me, Google me. I win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cignetti, who served as the Indianapolis 500\u2019s honorary pace-car driver on Sunday, has backed up his words, transforming an Indiana program that went 3-9 in 2023. Before joining the Hoosiers, Cignetti went 52-9 at James Madison (2019-23).<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of one, for sure, I\u2019ve never had anyone like him,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cMy experience with different coaches in different sports over the years is they try to come up with things and just end up overcomplicating matters, which makes the team a little unsure with what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Cig\u2019s very simple, very clear and concise about what\u2019s expected. Our team meetings were like 45 seconds: He\u2019d come in, say what he needed to say, get it done and leave. He just keeps things simple and as athletes we like simplicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
What fans and media don\u2019t see, though, is Cignetti\u2019s attention to detail.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll sit in his office six, seven hours a day and just watch film, he\u2019s a film junky,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cHe loves learning \u2026 it (coaching) is obviously his passion, he takes what he does very seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not one to come out and make friends with everyone but he\u2019s polite, he\u2019s respectful and says what he needs to say. The boys have the utmost respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarthy did much more than win at Indiana. He also learned plenty under special-teams co-ordinator Grant Gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a very complex punt-protection scheme, a lot of checks, a lot of switches, a lot of signals on the fly,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cThat actually helped me understand the game, specifically punt game, much more.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first three years (at the University of Central Florida) it was more catch it, roll right and kick it right. Coach Cain did a fantastic job of teaching me the punt game and the little details of what\u2019s involved \u2026 I was challenged and pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indians begins defence of its national championship Sept. 5 hosting North Texas. And although all eyes again be on the Hoosiers this season, McCarthy believes Cignetti won\u2019t change his approach.<\/p>\n
After all, Cignetti\u2019s message to his team last year was what happened in 2024 didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Cig will be in the exact same mindset,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cHis mentality is what separates him and he will not change anything that he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (Indiana\u2019s \u201924 season) held no weight to us. It was just, good job, next. We have our system, we have our standards, we meet them and that\u2019s what will help us win.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarthy and fellow Aussie Nick Haberer are battling to be Hamilton\u2019s punter. The Ticats took both in the \u201926 Global draft (Haberer in first round, McCarthy in second).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know you\u2019re fighting for a spot but there\u2019s an element of respect between Nick and I,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cHe\u2019s fun to work with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had similar backgrounds, we\u2019ve been through this before and we\u2019re having a good time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cignetti\u2019s starting quarterback in \u201924 was Canadian Kurtis Rourke, the younger brother of CFL star Nathan Rourke. Kurtis Rourke, of Oakville, Ont., is entering his second season with the NFL\u2019s San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMILTON \u2014 This month has been a whirlwind for Mitch McCarthy. It began at the New England Patriots\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-693506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}