In short
The episode is a 60 Minutes segment covering three stories. First, ultra-processed food: Guests Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (HHS Secretary) and Dr. David Kessler (former FDA commissioner) argue the 1958 GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”) exemption lets companies add ingredients without full safety review. They claim ultra-processed foods make up about 50% of calories overall and 60% of children’s diets, contributing to chronic disease (type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver, heart attack, stroke). Kessler specifically targets refined carbs/sweeteners like corn syrup and maltodextrin, saying they’re rapidly absorbed and disrupt metabolism and brain reward. Examples include ingredient labels with hard-to-pronounce additives and lawsuits alleging “tobacco-like” marketing harms. Industry groups dispute there’s no agreed definition and cite FDA risk-based standards. Second, Haiti: Mitch Albom and his wife Janine run Have Faith Haiti, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince with 63 children and 50+ staff, behind 30-foot walls. They describe education, security drills, and scholarships for graduates. Third, Indiana football: Coach Kurt Cignetti’s turnaround of Indiana Hoosiers—built via recruiting/development, transfer portal, and NIL/pay—culminating in a Big Ten title and national championship.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Dangers of Ultra-Processed Foods
1:59 to 3:38
Discussion on the health impacts of ultra-processed foods and their prevalence in diets.
“Leading the charge are two men who disagree on pretty much everything else about public health.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and David Kessler's Perspectives
3:38 to 5:28
Insights from Kennedy Jr. and Kessler on how ultra-processed foods compare to tobacco.
“David Kessler was commissioner of the U.S.”
Legislative Changes and GRAS Status
5:28 to 8:30
Exploration of the GRAS status and its implications for food safety regulations.
“after he issued new dietary guidelines that for the first time advise against highly processed foods.”
The Impact on Public Health
8:30 to 10:33
Analysis of the public health crisis caused by ultra-processed foods and obesity rates.
“dextrose, xylose, high fructose corn syrup.”
Government Subsidies and Food Production
10:33 to 13:01
Discussion on how government subsidies impact the healthiness of food produced.
“alleging that, like the tobacco companies, they knowingly engineered and marketed addictive, dangerous products while hiding the risks and causing a public health crisis.”
Regulatory Challenges in Food Safety
14:02 to 15:38
Exploring the complexities of regulating ultra-processed foods and public health.
“But the president has shown himself to be pretty much against regulations.”
Hope Amidst Chaos in Haiti
16:12 to 19:17
Introducing Mitch Albom's orphanage and the challenges faced in Haiti.
“It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti.”
Life Inside the Orphanage
19:17 to 21:53
A glimpse into the daily life and education of children at the orphanage.
“And there are a lot of children right on the other side of that gate and their bellies are swollen and they're not eating.”
Personal Stories of Resilience
21:53 to 26:21
Children share their experiences and aspirations despite adversity.
“It was my first time seeing an American, Mr.”
Future Ambitions of Haitian Youth
26:21 to 28:00
Discussing the ambitions of Haitian students and the challenges they face.
“and then come back and make their country a better place.”
Show all 17 chapters
Potential in Adversity: Haitian Orphans' Aspirations
28:00 to 29:18
Explore the potential of children in orphanages and their dreams despite challenges.
“But so far, about 1 ,000 have been deployed, and the U.S.”
Indiana's Sports Legacy: A Cinematic Perspective
29:18 to 30:26
Delve into Indiana's rich sports history through film and the rise of its football team.
“Indiana is the setting for three all-time great sports movies, Hoosiers, Rudy, and Breaking Away.”
The Hoosiers' Unlikely Football Journey
30:26 to 34:37
Discover the surprising success of Indiana University's football team and its new coach.
“More than 55 ,000 fans converging on Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers.”
A Coach's Vision: Kurt Signetti at Indiana
34:37 to 36:55
Learn about Coach Kurt Signetti's strategies and the culture shift at Indiana football.
“No, I've been around through thick and thin.”
Transforming College Football: The New Landscape
36:55 to 40:34
Examine how new rules and dynamics are reshaping college football and player compensation.
“The chip probably came from when I got here right away.”
The Stakes of College Football at Indiana
40:34 to 42:00
Understand the financial and emotional stakes of Indiana's renewed focus on football.
“Whether it's people talking about compensation in the locker room, which is either uniting or dividing the locker room.”
The Changing Landscape of College Football
42:00 to 42:40
Explore how college football dynamics are evolving with big contracts and adaptation.
“But at Indiana, the joy is tempered by a fear this all could vanish as quickly as it emerged.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:06There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra-processed.
0:15Bill Whitaker:It's hard to find two people who disagree more on health policy than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former FDA Commissioner David Kessler. But they have found common ground over a common culprit, ultra-processed food. How does this compare with tobacco? It's as large, if not larger.
0:39It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti. But tonight we want to take you to a small oasis where children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive. Do you get greeted like that every time you come? Pretty much. It's an orphanage called Have Faith Haiti that's run by best-selling author Mitch Albom and his wife Janine. If you give them something beautiful and calm, they'll aspire to those things. And that's what I think you see with our kids. Indiana entered last season as the losingest program in major college football history. More than 700 defeats. It's a rat.
1:19Corner! Touchdown! Indiana! So imagine the astonishment when those hapless Hoosiers won the Big Ten, went undefeated, and then took the national title. How'd they do it? You gotta adapt, adjust, and improvise. Take what the defense gives you. Attack at all times. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Leslie Stahl. Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes.
1:59Bill Whitaker:Today, an increasing number of Americans across the political spectrum, from Make America Healthy Again activists to everyday shoppers, are voicing concern about the health impact of ultra-processed foods, those boxed and wrapped in plastic ready-to-eat items lining grocery store shelves. Leading the charge are two men who disagree on pretty much everything else about public health. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. David Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As we first reported in February, the two men have found common ground over a common culprit, a 67-year-old government classification for substances in our food.
2:45Bill Whitaker:It's called GRASS, or generally recognized as SAFE. Kennedy and Kessler say it has allowed big food companies to use ingredients without a full government safety review and flood the market with ultra-processed foods that now make up 50 % of our calories and 60 % of our children's diets. Over the last 40 years, the United States has been exposed to something that our biology was never intended to handle. Energy-dense, highly palatable, rapidly absorbable, ultra-processed foods that have altered our metabolism and have resulted in the greatest increase in chronic disease in our history. Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, hypertension, abnormal lipids, fatty liver, heart attacks, stroke, heart failure.
3:52From our food.
3:54Bill Whitaker:From our food. David Kessler was commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during the 1990s when he helped expose how the tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels to hook consumers. I am here to provide you with actual instances of nicotine control and manipulation in the tobacco industry. If you raise your right hand. He was a driving force in bringing tobacco executives before Congress and turning public attention to the industry. He's now aiming to do the same with the food industry. In terms of a public health crisis, how does this compare with tobacco? It's as large, if not larger.
4:40It's that significant.
4:43Bill Whitaker:The scale of this, this affects everybody. Understand, not everybody smokes. Look at the number of people who consume ultra-processed food. It touches all of us. Seventy percent of Americans are either obese or overweight. And it's not because they got indolent or because we became lazy or because we suddenly developed giant appetites. It's because we're being given food that is low in nutrition and high in calories. And it's making it's destroying our health. I see it when I go across the country. We met with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in January after he issued new dietary guidelines that for the first time advise against highly processed foods.
5:36Bill Whitaker:You have said that these ultra-processed foods are poisoning us. I think many Americans would be surprised to hear that. And we're seeing in our population people who are obscenely obese and at the same time malnourished. Who wants us? Kennedy says that's largely because we don't know the health consequences of what we're eating. Thanks to the grass exemption enacted by Congress in 1958 that allows food companies to independently verify the safety of their ingredients with no government oversight if they are generally recognized by experts as safe. Pending White House approval, he intends to close that back door.
6:21That loophole was hijacked by the industry, and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply. In Europe, there's only 400 legal ingredients. This agency does not know how many ingredients there are in American food.
6:42Bill Whitaker:We do not know. They do not know. The estimates are between 4 ,000 and 10 ,000. We have no idea what they are. How do we know what is safe to eat? There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra-processed. For his part, David Kessler is petitioning Kennedy to go further and outright revoke the grass status for dozens of processed refined carbohydrates, sweeteners and starches such as corn syrup and maltodextrin, unless the companies can prove they are safe and not fueling obesity. They took starch, right, those cheap, easy calories, and they converted those into a whole panoply of ingredients that it was able to reassemble.
7:32Bill Whitaker:And those products are so rapidly absorbed in our system that they cause metabolic havoc. They target the brain reward circuits to keep us coming back for more. They trigger overeating. They deprive us of any sense of fullness. What we all call empty calories. Those calories are not just empty. They're ending up in your liver. And that fat in your liver is going to migrate into other organs. and it's the cause of cardiometabolic disease. Kessler, a pediatrician, filed his petition with the FDA after zeroing in on grass ingredients listed in plain sight on the backs of packaged foods. Pick up any one of these products.
8:16Bill Whitaker:You ever look at the ingredient label? A lot of them are things I can't even pronounce. Right. Is that food? Corn syrup, corn solids, maltodextrin, dextrose, xylose, high fructose corn syrup. And then these ingredients were subjected to industrial processing so that our system can't handle it. We will act on David Kessler's position, and the questions that he's asking are questions that FDA should have been asking a long, long time ago. Kennedy told us he will use gold standard science to review grass ingredients, but his credibility on that score has been widely called into question because of his history of vaccine skepticism and his agency's revision of the childhood vaccine schedule.
9:10Bill Whitaker:Are you concerned at all that your stance on vaccines might make people reluctant to support you on ultra-processed foods? My stance on vaccines is the same. People should have good science and they should have choice. Some doctors worry that the new immunization schedule sows confusion and will lead some Americans not to vaccinate their children. People who want to get those vaccines can get them, and they can get them fully insured. The secretary and I, you know, we disagree on a number of issues. I mean, in the strongest possible terms, when it comes to vaccines, I disagree. But if he's willing to take action on these ultra-processed foods, I will be the first to applaud that.
10:04If you don't trust him on vaccines, why trust him when it comes to ultra-processed foods?
10:12Bill Whitaker:I don't think it's a question of trust, Bill. I mean, this country is ill. I'm a doc. I care about the public health of this country, and if we can make progress on that, let's do that. The impact on children has been particularly alarming. In December, San Francisco City Attorney David Chu filed a landmark lawsuit against 10 manufacturers of ultra-processed foods, alleging that, like the tobacco companies, they knowingly engineered and marketed addictive, dangerous products while hiding the risks and causing a public health crisis. The Consumer Brands Association, one of the largest trade groups representing the food industry, declined to respond to us about the lawsuit.
10:59Bill Whitaker:But in a statement to 60 Minutes said, There's no agreed-upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods, and companies adhere to the rigorous evidence-based safety standards and nutrition policy established by the FDA to deliver safe, affordable, and convenient products that consumers depend on every day. I'm your granddaddy. Oreos. We met with food author Michael Pollan, who for decades has been warning about inexpensive, factory-processed food. Granola bars, those look very healthy. All of these would qualify as ultra-processed foods, even though they're very different. You know, we have a snack food, a couple snack foods.
11:40Nature Valley? I would argue because of the number of ingredients in it. So there's a lot of sugar in here.
11:47Bill Whitaker:But this is sold as health food. Paulin commends Kennedy for shining a light on ultra-processed foods. He ties their ubiquity to long-standing federal farm subsidies. We subsidize, as taxpayers, through the farm bill, the least healthy calories in the diet, most of which goes to people farming corn and soybeans. What's wrong with corn and soybeans? When you hear corn and soy, you think food. This is not corn on the cob. This is commodity corn. It's not the sweet corn we eat in the summer? No, you can't eat it, in fact. It's all starch, big cobs. You'd break your teeth on it. And then soy, which is not in the form we grow it as a commodity, is not edamame.
12:33You can't eat it. These are raw ingredients for processed foods and animal feed.
12:39Bill Whitaker:So the government is subsidizing crops that are making us unhealthy. Yes, yeah. One way to look at it is we are supporting both sides in the war on type 2 diabetes. We are subsidizing the high fructose corn syrup that's contributing to causing it, and then we're paying for the health care costs. I mean, it makes no sense at all. In a statement, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest general farm organization in the U.S., told us, A healthy diet relies on a variety of nutrient-dense foods and a balance of healthy fats, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, some of which can come from shelf-stable foods.
13:22Bill Whitaker:Why are there not subsidies to produce more of the healthy foods? Cheap food is the goal of all governments. If you were to remove these corn subsidies, there's concern that the price of corn would raise, and that would be a problem for the whole food industry, which, of course, is a very powerful lobby and would be a problem for the consumer, conceivably. When you're taking on ultra-processed foods, you're also taking on powerful industries, big ag, big food. What makes you believe you will prevail? My belief that I will prevail is because we have the president behind us. But the president has shown himself to be pretty much against regulations.
14:06Bill Whitaker:So why would he support regulating ultra-processed foods? Well, I'm not saying that we're going to regulate ultra-processed food. Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they're getting to have an informed public. There are Americans who live in so-called food deserts with little access to whole foods. And these are foods that many of them can't afford anyway. So how do you speak to that American? We are laser-focused on making all of these foods affordable and accessible to every American. The Consumer Brands Association told us the GRAS process enables companies to innovate to meet consumer demand and that food companies adhere to FDA science and risk-based evaluation of ingredients before and after they are in the marketplace.
14:58Bill Whitaker:David Kessler says that's not enough. We change how this country views tobacco. We need to change how this country views these ultra-processed foods. Would you like to see the CEOs of big food companies come before Congress and raise their hand and be questioned like the tobacco industry was? I'd like them to understand the consequences of what they are doing and to do something about it.
15:38Bill Whitaker:Life can feel overwhelming, but you don't have to go through it alone. On my podcast, From the Heart with Rachel Braython, I share openly and vulnerably about everything life brings us and what we can learn by living with our hearts a little bit more open. Every Friday, a new episode brings you a new story with topics on self-care, motherhood, healing, and more. You are enough, just the way you are. This podcast is a reminder of that. Follow and listen to From the Heart with Rachel Braython wherever you get your podcasts.
16:12It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti. Sixteen years after the devastating earthquake which killed some 200 ,000 people and left more than a million homeless, the government has all but collapsed and gangs battle for control of the capital Port-au-Prince. But tonight we want to take you to a small oasis in that besieged city where, as we first reported in March, children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive. It's an orphanage called Half-Faith Haiti that's run by best-selling author Mitch Albom and his wife Janine. Since the earthquake, they've been taking in the most at-risk kids.
16:49Abandoned infants, toddlers with disabilities, children begging in the streets. It hasn't been easy, but with love, faith, and a focus on education, the results have been extraordinary. It's too dangerous for international flights to land in Haiti's capital, so every month Mitch Albom flies the two hours from Florida to the northern city of Cap-Haitien. That's where we met him and boarded a helicopter to reach Port-au-Prince. From the air, much of Haiti is a maze of dry riverbeds and rugged mountains stripped of trees. Then appears Port-au-Prince, a dense sprawl of chaotic streets and dilapidated buildings.
17:33Once on the ground, heavily armed guards drive Album to the orphanage in a convoy of bulletproof vehicles. It's kind of crazy just what it takes for you to get in and out of here. And you do this every month. Yeah. Back before the gangs were an issue, we had two security guards. Now we have 24. Wow. From the outside, it looks like a prison. The concrete walls are 30 feet tall with barbed wire and guard towers. To enter, you have to pass through a series of locked gates. But once inside, it feels like another world. Mr. Mitch, they're chanting.
18:20Oh my goodness, hello. So nice to see you guys. Hi. Do you get greeted like that every time you come? Pretty much, yeah. There are 63 children living here and more than 50 teachers and staff. The kids range from infants and toddlers cared for by nannies to teenagers living in dorms. Most haven't left this seven-acre compound in more than four years. They play here. do chores, go to church, and eight hours a day go to school. They're taught in both French and English and prepared to go on to college. All children deserve to feel like they have a future and the future is possible. And there are a lot of children right on the other side of that gate and their bellies are swollen and they're not eating.
19:23And that's not fair. And if my wife and I can do anything to change that, even if it's a drop in the bucket, that'll be our drop. You're not doing analysis of a two - or three-year-old and seeing what their cognition is and what they're capable of. You are just picking kids in the most difficult circumstances. Love, food, prayer. Works miracles. We don't give aptitude tests to get in here. Most of the kids that come to us aren't even speaking yet. But if you put them in the right environment and you surround them with other kids who are aspiring to do certain things, they'll grow. Not all the kids are orphans.
20:07Many were brought here by a desperate parent or family member who couldn't afford to feed them. Album has to choose who gets in. We try to set the conditions because otherwise it's hundreds and hundreds of children. So we say only if there's one parent, not two, only if there's no home, no actual structure, home, you know, or if there's a case of a sickness or something like that. What are those interviews like? I don't have any food to give my baby. The parents died. I don't know who this child is. We found this child under a tree. He was six weeks old and he was starving. So those stories, those interviews, they broke me in half, but they also cemented me to Haiti and cemented me to this operation, which I will do for the rest of my life.
20:53Mitch Albom is the author of 19 books, including Tuesdays with Maury and his most recent bestseller, Twice. He first came to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. That's when Albom, who's Jewish, began fixing up a Christian orphanage run by an elderly pastor. The pastor basically said, I don't have any money to run this place, and I'm 84 years old. And I kind of blurted out, well, I could probably run it. How hard could it be? And he said, here you go. Bettany was brought here around that time, a year and a half old. Her father died in the earthquake, and her mother was desperate. Lorvins was malnourished when he came at three, and Gino was left here by her father at five.
21:39She now wants to be a lawyer.
21:41Bill Whitaker:I felt abandoned, I could say. I was a little bit scared because there were a lot of new faces and just a lot of people staring and smiling. Smiling felt weird? Yeah. It was my first time seeing an American, Mr. Mitch. What did you think? I was like, he's so white.
22:04Were you angry at all when you learned your story? Your story?
22:08Bill Whitaker:Honestly, not really, because I know my mom is human, and I don't think it was a really bad choice for her to bring me here because she was looking at my future. Laura, what's happened for you? You said that there was a sense of betrayal for you early on. Because I feel like, why would your own family leave you in a place where you don't know anybody? Follow me, Snadia. That feeling of abandonment is something Yonel, the Haitian director of Half-Faith Haiti, knows well. He was left at the old orphanage 36 years ago when he was five. Do you remember coming? Oh, yes, I remember coming. It was the worst day of my life, honestly.
22:46Bill Whitaker:I did not like it. Yonel's father had three other children and couldn't afford another. I thought that they hate me back then because they just, you know, kicked me out. They didn't even tell me why. But later on, I will understand why they did that. That's why I forgive him, you know, because I think they do it out of love. When we share and when we give, it will remind us of what God did for us. Amen? Amen!
23:14Bill Whitaker:Almost all the kids, when they come, they all call me father. They need that, you know, connection. Amen! So I put myself there for them. The kids, they view each other as brothers and sisters. I don't know how to put this, honestly. That's all we got. Growing up, we have to rely on each other to survive. That's all these kids have is each other. Yeah, that's all we have. Keeping the kids safe is one of Yanel's biggest challenges. Outside the walls of the orphanage, the danger is very real. As much as 90 % of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area is now controlled by armed gangs. Rapes, robberies, and murders are common.
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23:55The U.N. estimates more than a million people have been displaced from their homes by violence. And in just the last 24 hours in this one area, there have been three shootouts between police and gang members. In case gunmen ever break into the compound, Yanel regularly conducts surprise emergency drills. The kids grab go bags and rush to a concrete bunker with steel doors. It's got its own generator, a month's supply of food and water, and cameras to monitor outside. Yanel wasn't happy with the results of this drill.
24:35One of the babies was left napping in the nursery.
24:43Bill Whitaker:So what's it like trying to keep this going? Have Faith Haiti's budget is paid for mostly by Mitch Albom and his wife Janine, along with help from public and private donors. And we try to give them a childhood, which is stolen from so many people. There's not a lot of kids in Haiti who get a childhood. No. It's very hard to fundraise for Haiti. People think, oh, the money always disappears or the government takes it. I hear that a lot. But these children, they don't deserve to be ignored because Haiti has a checkered history. After security and fuel, education is the biggest expense. The classes are small, and if a child struggles, they're given a customized lesson plan.
25:28You don't see kids on phones or kids playing video games. No kids have any computers for personal use. There are no cell phones here. There's no television. and consequently we get to see childhood in a much purer form than I think you get to see it in the States. So their attention span is remarkably long relative to American kids. Seventeen kids have graduated from high school at Have Faith Haiti in the last eight years, and all of them have gotten scholarships to American colleges and universities. But they won't be staying in the U.S. All of our kids agree before they leave here that they are coming back after they finish their studies and they're going to work at our orphanage for two years for free to give back to the community.
26:16So they're not going to America to take jobs. They're not going to America to do anything but appreciate it and then come back and make their country a better place. You know, I hope our kids can stabilize this country, and that's part of what we're trying to raise them to do. We are really, really proud of you. In December, when we visited Mitch Albom's home outside Detroit, all the Haitian college students were staying there on their winter breaks. We sat down with four of them, Widley, Bianca, JJ, and JU. What's it like living in the U.S.? Like, what stands out to you?
26:46Bill Whitaker:For me, it's like opportunities. Like, there's lots of opportunities here. Just being able to see the ins and outs of how an actual government works. I'd say, like, it was like a relief, a relief from all, like, the violence. All of them said they're determined to help turn Haiti around. Education is one of the things I would really want to take back and I will take back in Haiti because you need a better education to lead the government and to get a good job. Eventually, I'd like to become an ambassador for my country someday. The aim goes to be a senator in my country one day. It doesn't scare you off to get involved in politics?
27:25Bill Whitaker:I mean, there is a little bit. Honestly, I mean, our last president got assassinated. we have to take that into account. It seems like all of you want your futures to be with Haiti. To me, Haiti isn't just my country. It's like my home, where I was raised, and I have a deep connection to Haiti. So, yeah, my future is with Haiti. Haiti's future, however, is uncertain. To combat the gangs in September, the United Nations, with U.S. backing, authorized a force of 5 ,500 multinational troops to help the overwhelmed Haitian police. But so far, about 1 ,000 have been deployed, and the U.S. has slashed its financial obligations to the country by nearly 50%.
28:12Another six students at the orphanage graduated this past spring. They'll volunteer for a year of service in Haiti before applying for scholarships to study in the U.S. Even if they get them, however, it's no longer clear if they'll be granted visas. Is there a difference between you and kids outside these walls who are working in the streets in terms of their potential?
28:37Bill Whitaker:No, because it could have been vice versa and we could have been in the streets and they could have been here. So I think everybody has potential. They just have to be given the chance and the opportunity to explore that. Every child has that potential inside them, no matter what circumstance they come from. If you give them something beautiful and calm and hopeful, they'll aspire to those things. And that's what I think you see with our kids.
29:11Anderson Cooper's personal connection to Haiti. Somebody I knew so well, my math teacher, assassinated. That was shocking. At 60MinutesOvertime.com.
29:44Indiana is the setting for three all-time great sports movies, Hoosiers, Rudy, and Breaking Away. Now comes another cinematic underdog story set in the state, except this one is unscripted. Over the past century, defeat has been the near-constant companion of Indiana University football. But then arrived a new coach who'd never gotten a shot at the big time, and Indiana became the unlikely darling of college football. We first brought you this story in December, as the Hoosiers closed out an undefeated regular season. They went on to win three more games than the first national championship in school history, just as the credits rolled.
30:26They come from the cities and they come from the smaller towns. More than 55 ,000 fans converging on Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers. Built from limestone extracted from local quarries, Memorial Stadium is 65 years old. But this is a completely new look. Home to a football dynamo. Indiana had always been a basketball school. No longer.
30:58This season, the Hoosiers have won at home and on the road.
31:06They've won in blowouts and won with their season on the brink. In trouble! It's out! Touchdown! Wow! This game-winning touchdown against Penn State stands as the play of the year in college football. And they're hardly doing it with prized recruits. I think a lot of people on our team, whether it's coaches, players, or staff, have all been overlooked. You say outcasts and transfers and rejects, you guys are doing pretty well. Well, I wouldn't say we're like, for sure, outcasts and rejects. I think we're all still really, really good football players here. That's Fernando Mendoza, Indiana's star quarterback.
31:47He's come to embody the team. A few years ago, he was a middling Miami high school player. Recently, he won the Heisman Trophy and then became the NFL's top draft pick. Can you pause for a second and admire this story? Human nature is like, wow, how did I get here? And there's a little bit of an imposter syndrome from that point. Whoa, am I supposed to be here? I was a two-star recruit. I wasn't a five-star who's supposed to be in this position, who's supposed to be on the number one team in the nation. Talk about your imposter syndrome. Gone. Does the program still have imposter syndrome? I think that we believe.
32:20We believe. The belief has been hard won. Indiana entered this season as the losingest program in major college football history, more than 700 defeats. It's a rat. Corner! Touchdown! Indiana! So imagine the astonishment when Indiana took down the then-defending national champion, undefeated Ohio State, to win the Big Ten title. The previous time Indiana was conference champion? 1967. Paint the picture of IU football the first 50 years you've been doing this job. I'd say up and down, except that most of it's been down. 40, 35, down to the 30. Don Fisher has been the voice of Indiana football since 1973.
33:08This is the greatest turnaround, and I hate that word because I don't think it expresses really what these last two seasons have been like here in the world. Indiana. Turnaround doesn't do enough lifting. It's even bigger than that. No, it's not a good enough term. So I'm thinking Peyton Manning wins a Super Bowl like an hour up the road. You've got Notre Dame. Football is not an alien sport to Indiana. Why did it seem so hard to unlock it here? A big problem for Indiana was we could not recruit offensive and defensive linemen. Big boys. The big guys. We just didn't have very many of them. And football here was not a big sport.
33:44It just hadn't clicked as a football place. Was there one low moment? Oh, I don't know if there was one. Here's one. It's Indiana legend, but the charismatic coach at the time, Lee Corso, confirms it to us. In a 1976 game, lowly Indiana took an early 7-6 lead over mighty Ohio State. So unexpected that Corso burned a timeout for the purpose of commemorative photos. When the game ended, Indiana still had seven points. Ohio State had 47. One diehard fan in attendance that afternoon, John Mellencamp, bard of Indiana, who's been going to Hoosier games ever since his father took him as a kid. In the 90s, he funded this indoor practice facility in hopes it would lure recruits.
34:32You've been a fan for like 50 years. You're not a bandwagon guy. No. No, I've been around through thick and thin. How thin did it get? Pretty thin. He says that for years, the tailgates drew more interest than the actual games. You're going to these football games, and the stadium's half full, and fans are leaving at halftime. Whoa, whoa, whoa. They're not even half full. Less than half full. Yeah, less than half full. I mean, you know, like, if this is the stadium, there's just like a few people up here. In 2023, yet another dismal season, the team finished 3-9. And the athletic director, Scott Dolson, set out in search of answers.
35:14What was the hole you had to fill? I think certainly the right coach is the biggest hole to fill. As he scoured for candidates, he had some non-negotiables. We wanted an existing head coach. We wanted a coach who was offensive-minded, who had developed quarterbacks. So the slick offensive coordinator at the big school, that's not who you wanted. No, we really felt having that head coach experience was really important. Dolson went off the board and settled on a little-known lifer, who'd won relentlessly but also been overlooked relentlessly. So two years ago, when Kurt Cignetti's name surfaces as a candidate, what did you know about him?
35:52Anything? You've been covering college football for more than 50 years, and you'd never heard his name before. I never heard his name. And when he became the hire, I was surprised by it. But then I looked him up a little bit. I Googled it. You Googled him? Yes, I did. That was a direct order from the new coach. How do you sell your vision of your culture? Mere weeks on the job, tired of the who are you questions, Kurt Signetti dropped his usual modesty and said this. It's pretty simple. I win. Google me. Here's what Googling would have revealed. Signetti pinballed around the country's sidelines.
36:29Once an assistant for Nick Saban in Alabama, he left the big time to take head coaching jobs at smaller schools like Elon University and James Madison. When Indiana called, Signetti was well beyond the usual sell-by date for a maiden job at this level. You've had terrific success wherever you've been, but at age 62, this was your first Power 4 big-time job. Did you come in here with a bit of a chip on your shoulder? The chip probably came from when I got here right away. I detected an atmosphere that you can't get it done here. You sensed that? Oh, absolutely. As soon as I walked in the building.
37:08Facilities that had been neglected, the stadium banners that looked old, the offices that looked like they were from 1980, and then, you know, just the general attitude of the people I met, the lack of excitement. Coming from a winning program, he was, well... I was furious, pretty much, because all we did was win conference championships year in, year out. That's your old school. Yeah, and I mean, we win. And so it was a clashing of two worlds, and I wasn't going to lower my standards. It erupted when Signetti was first introduced to fans at an Indiana basketball game. Purdue sucks! Yeah!
37:53But so does Michigan in a high state. Go RU! As the kids say, shots fired. I had to see if the fans were dead or just on life support. I had to wake them up and set an expectation and create some buzz and excitement. Think they woke up? A little bit. Get locked in. Good warm-up. The irony? Signetti is skeptical of anything resembling Look at Me. He may be from Pennsylvania, but his temperament is pitch perfect for Southern Indiana. He's measured, he commands respect, his fallback language is coach speak. Coaches aren't in the habit of sharing the playbook, but what is the magic here? There's no magic here.
38:38It's fundamentals. You know, I would like to think the leader, which is me, knows what he's doing and has a blueprint and a plan. Create the intangibles on your football team, the culture, the mindset, the philosophy on how you want to play. Under Signetti, the program is unrecognizable. The last two seasons, Indiana's gone 24-2 without losing a home game. That's the what. The how is more complicated. It starts with a coach. Not just his eye for recruiting talent, but his ability to develop it once it arrives. Based on what he's seen from his perch, a shack atop the stadium press box where he can smoke, John Mellencamp has his own explanation for Signetti's success.
39:21He does not show emotion. He's not emotional. Not outwardly. John, I've made my worst decisions being emotional. I bet you have too. The poise of Signetti and the turnaround he's orchestrated, it makes for a hell of a Cinderella story. But this is also a story about contemporary college sports. Indiana's rise has been helped by new rules. Athletes are now able to enter the so-called transfer portal and switch schools at will. Signetti fortified the roster by bringing 13 players with him from James Madison. Fernando Mendoza played at Cal Berkeley last season. Then there's the money. College players now can be paid for the licensing of their name, image, and likeness, and starting this year, they can get a cut of team revenue.
40:16Mendoza is reported to be making$2 million this season. I wrote a paper in high school saying why NCAA athletes should not be able to get paid. Should not be. They should not be. And then now I'm contradicting myself as I'm getting paid now. There's so many different dynamics that were never there in college football, And I think that's why you see so many teams either rising or fizzling just because of the new structure. Whether it's people talking about compensation in the locker room, which is either uniting or dividing the locker room. Whether it's people going to not only one or two schools, like myself, going to four schools.
40:52I mean, you see coaches leaving midseason. It is chaos. In 2024, thanks partially to donors, including IU alum Mark Cuban, Indiana spent more than $60 million on football alone. This as the school is cutting academic jobs and programs. There are people who will say, wait a second, these are tough times for colleges and universities and you've got$50,$60 million being spent on one sport. That doesn't make sense. So certainly the market is what the market is and it costs a lot of money. but we earn that money, we make it through our revenue streams, and at the same time, people understand if we can get football going, the impact and the consequences for the rest of the university are significant.
41:36You can have all the marketing meetings you want and changing logos and uniforms, but winning games is what's going to do it. Absolutely, and I've joked before, if I'd have known that winning consistently would have that impact, we should have tried that a long time ago. Big Ten champion, Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers headed into the college football playoffs as the number one seed. But at Indiana, the joy is tempered by a fear this all could vanish as quickly as it emerged. The school vows to keep spending on football, far more than on basketball. And in hopes the coach doesn't transfer out, Indiana recently gave Cignetti an eight-year,$90 million contract, more than 15 times his compensation at his last job.
42:24Been around this sport a long time. It's a lot different now than it was when you started. Do you embrace that? Oh, you have to embrace that. If not, you have no chance of being successful. Doesn't matter if you like it or not. Those are the rules of the road. You got to adapt, adjust, and improvise. Take what the defense gives you. Attack at all times.
42:49Paw Patrol. is coming to theaters. Hello! And it's bigger than ever.
42:52Bill Whitaker:Welcome to Dino Island. Run to get tickets. I'm a bulldog! This is as fast as I can go! Paw Patrol, the dino movie. Only in theaters August 14th. Rated PG.
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An unscripted underdog saga is unfolding in the most unlikely setting this college football season. Indiana University’s perennially overlooked and outmatched Hoosiers have transformed into the #1 ranked team in the country. Correspondent Jon Wertheim speaks with head coach Curt Cignetti and dives into how this remarkable turnaround took shape – as the undefeated Hoosiers contend for a national championship. David M. Levine is the producer.