No individual coach had been on the EA Sports college football video game cover since the 1990s, but taking a team from perennial struggles to a national championship in two years brings the highest recognition.
Indiana football‘s Curt Cignetti, the consensus national coach of the year in consecutive seasons, is front and center on this year’s Deluxe Edition cover, with IU’s Memorial Stadium in the background. Several players, helmets, and the mascots from Western Kentucky, LSU and Arizona State join Cignetti.
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Bill Walsh, the Super Bowl champion coach of the San Francisco 49ers and former Stanford coach, attached his name to the game in its first two years, 1994 and ’95. Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier became the first player on the cover in 1997.
Groups of coaches have been on the Deluxe Edition cover in recent years.
As you might expect, Hoosiers fans are love it and some others … not so much.
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Leonard Moore, Notre Dame
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1994: Former coach Bill Walsh
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1995: Former coach Bill Walsh
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1996: No specific players, but depictions of players, a mascot and a band
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1997: Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
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1998: Danny Wuerffel, Florida
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2000: Ricky Williams, Texas
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2001: Shaun Alexander, Alabama
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2003: Joey Harrington, Oregon
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2006: Desmond Howard, Michigan
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2008: Jared Zabransky, Boise State
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2015-24: Litigation of players’ name, image and likeness rights kept them off the cover
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2026: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State; Ryan Williams, Alabama
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti on EA Sports cover
