A GA for 2 years, then he was a position coach for 26 years, 1985-2010, but never a coordinator. The last 4 years as a position coach, 2007-10, he was on Saban's Alabama staff but that only led to the HC job at IUP, at D2 school. Then was the HC at Elon, then HC at James Madison. Never had a losing season over 13 years at those schools, went 119-35. Finally gets a P4 job with Indiana when he was 62 yo.
Why'd it take so long? Major programs bias against smaller programs, not thinking out of the box? And partly Cignetti's own fault, "In 2011, after four years as an assistant for Nick Saban's national championship-winning program at Alabama, Cignetti made the unusual decision to take a head coaching job at the Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The move meant a 60% pay cut and led him to question his own decision."