January 20, 2026 • 10 mins
“The Gasman” Mike Gastineau joins Dave Softy Mahler to react to his Indiana Hoosiers winning the National Championship last night, Curt Cignetti’s job as Head Coach, being in Miami last night, what it means for the school, and what else he can compare this to.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Podcasting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio now Doctor Safti and Dick powered by Emerald
quin Casino, the Betty and Capital of the Northwest on
Sports Radio nineties three point three kJ R FAM.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, boys and girls, we are back on a
busy Tuesday night right here on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Before we get to the hour of radio that everybody's
been waiting for, Cracking Weekly with Mike Benton coming up
next segment from seven to eight, what do you say?
We welcome in? Really the only Indiana fan I know.
I know he was on the morning show this morning
(00:36):
and he's on with us from Miami before he takes
off to go home and celebrate Indiana's national title. Our friend,
Mike Gastado And first of all, Mike, congratulations, my man,
pulling for.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You, thinking about you the entire night last night.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And number two, if I would have told you, I
don't know five years ago that one of your favorite
teams is gonna win a title in the next five years,
where would Indiana football have been on that list?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For you? Man? Of my favorite teams? If you tell him,
I probably said Washington first, right, you know, they always
seem to be stacked up and close to being there. No,
Indiana wouldn't even have been on the list. I would
I'm one of the fans Signetti talks about that when
he got there. I would have said to him, coach,
if you could win seven or eight games a year
(01:24):
and get us to a bowl and maybe even win
the ball game, will be ecstatic. I mean, that was
my expectation. I never saw this coming. I don't think
anybody did except maybe him. He spoke it into existence,
you know, he said, we're going to do this, and
he kept you know, I mean, you know, there's so
many great stories about him. One of the best that
kind of got lost in the shuffle, and he was
(01:44):
one year off. Was his first Big Ten media Day,
which they hold up at Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium.
He said, yeah, I wanted to come up here because
I want to see where we're going to be playing
this December for the Big Ten Championship. Everybody can come on, man,
And they didn't get there. And that, I mean, he
just kept saying outrageous stuff and then cover you know,
(02:06):
covering the checks and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, let's talk about what it was like to be
in that stadium last night. Man, I mean you mentioned
to me off the air it was nerve wracking, which
I would think makes it even more sweeter. Right that
there had to be some drama, you had to earn
this right to get to that championship last night, But
that that drive that resulted in that phenomenal Now, I
would assume immortal Fernando Mendoza touchdown run on fourth and four,
(02:33):
two fourth down decisions to go forth, the balls of
steel on signetti on that drive.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
What's the reaction?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What was your reaction when he decided to go forward
on not one but two fourth down plays.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I was really nervous. But again, I threw in with
this guy a long time ago. Like I said, at
the start, I would have been in those people doubting
him a little bit. But after you watch for a
while and you see what he's doing, and you listen
to what he says, you listen to players, it's like,
you know what, Okay, if that's what you think is best,
I'm gonna think it's best. Nevertheless, it was nerve wracking
(03:05):
in the stadium. I mean, it was the game. It's
funny how their postseason went. The Ohio State game, the
first game they played for the Big Ten title, and
this game against Miami were carbon copies of each other. Yeah,
just tense Ohio State more low scoring, but just tense
struggles where it felt like at any given second the
(03:27):
game could end. Was a big play. Excuse me? So
I was you know, it was nerve, right, you know,
the driving at one point. I'm my god, if Miami
doesn't pick six or they'll have the lead, right, you
know which. That's the funny thing is Miami never did
have the lead, but Indiana never got comfortable. Uh well,
he went for it. I just thought, you know what,
(03:47):
he knows what he said. I was nervous because he
seemed to second guess himself. Do I want to do this?
Do I not? He called the time I kind of
like Calen the Bore in the Alabama game in the
Rose Bowl, where he went through the whole Let me
they I didn't coach, just talk themselves into and out
of things all game long. We know that. So but
but you know, and again in the rearview mirror. Now, yeah,
(04:09):
I'm glad. It was an epic game. At the time,
I was hoping for another rules ball. I'm like, I
could use a five touchdown, that'd be It'd be just fun.
Or a Peach Bowl? Who was beating the Peach Bowl?
Do you remember it's been so long? Who wasn't we
spanked in that game?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
You live for Oregon getting thrilled like that?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well yeah, most of the time, you're right, You're right.
Who am I kidding?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But Mike, Mike, Mike Castin's with us, He's he's in Miami,
and I can tell your voice how exhausted you are
by the way. I mean, I I remember feeling the
same way a couple of years ago during that Husky run.
The difference is you got the title and my team
did not. So good for you. But I mean not
to be all corny on you, but you've known me
for a long time.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
What is this? What does this mean for Bloomington?
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, you know what does this mean for for
the for the school, for that town, for that community
to be Let's face it kind of a doormat of
college football one day and then King of the Hill
the next.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I think it's amazing. You know, basketball has always been
pretty good there, but it's been since nineteen eighty seven
that we want a basketball national championship. The university is
doing fine, and you know, the universities don't necessarily need
athletic success to have to have success, but it helps.
You know the amount of people that were exposed to
(05:28):
Indiana as a school and this story. I don't know,
there's got to be some people out there that are
sick in Indiana, but I think the average sports fan
is like, this is the coolest thing ever. Now by
next year people will be sick. I'll be like, all right,
I'm not even going to get their asses kicked. But
I think for now that everybody's like, God, this is great.
That the quarterbacks like a golden retriever and the team's
(05:48):
full of all these good guys at Signetti seems like
this great coach who doesn't have that streak a mean
guy in him. I mean, people said talk all the
time about oh, I bet he's really yelling at him
and the players. I'll say, he never yells at us.
He just says what he wants and lets you know
that's what's expected, but doesn't do it in a screaming way.
It's big for the for the school and for the
(06:09):
for the s and it's just big, the amount of fans.
I mean, I said, if you're if you're a fan
of my age, if you're sixty five years old, you've
seen him beat Ohio State three times in your life,
You've seen him win the Big Ten twice in your life.
Before this run, you hadn't seen him win a Bowl
game since ninety one, and they've only won three bowl games,
(06:32):
So you know, you stay a fan of the team.
They weren't obviously they're fill in the stadium now, but
they were, and they're shots of like how small some
of the crowds, But for the most part they get
twenty five to thirty five thousand people going to games,
which is not bad for a team that's always getting
their teeth kicked in, right, and then because to have
this happen, it's such a it's just a great feeling
(06:54):
for everybody, excuse me, everybody who along the way, you know,
gave up on him and stuck with him. I like
to tell a story. My brother Mark has had season
tickets since nineteen seventy three, and he went to the game.
He wouldn't see it. You couldn't sell him to get
like a dollar on a point he was going to
every game and would get frustrated, but never lost faith
(07:18):
and never lost his love for him. And so you know,
being next to him last night it was really fun,
you know, it was it was I don't know this,
The whole the whole experience has been surreal, but along
the way it stopped being surreal and I started believing.
And I'm not sure exactly when I mean, but if
somebody go, you know what, these guys you can't fake
(07:41):
being good in college football, right right? Yeah, you can't know,
and any guy it really, in any kind of sport,
you just can't. He can't fake it. So eventually you go, well,
you know it's the old joke. Boy, you've ever seen it.
He can get luckier more often. I mean, it's just
it's just bam bam, win you punch him them out
feed him against And that was us for years on
the other end of that. So it's kind of fun
to be the guy deliver in the bands instead of
(08:04):
getting them.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, you guys earned it, man, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And Mike, uh, well, we'll have you in at some
point over the spring or summer, I'm sure, and kind
of dive into more stories about this and all that.
But I mean, look, I've known you for a long time.
I know how excited you were for that ninety five
Mariner run and for the Sonics and the finals and
the Mariners in two thousand that that that first Seahawks
Super Bowl obviously in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
But I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that this.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Is number one on your on your on your sports
list as a fan and as a broadcast or whatever
anything you've ever been around in this business.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
This has got to be top of the hill.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
For you, on the only one that competes because of
the out of the blue factory some of the stories
you mentioned, you know, like you could see the Seahawks
coming to the Super Bowl, you could see the Sonics
ninety four, ninety five, they're getting better and better. It's
not a shock that they got to the finals. This
one out of the blue, like the ninety five Mariners,
where you know, one minute getting beat by everybody, the
(09:01):
next minute they're playing for the American League championship. And
that's how this was. It's it's incredible, and I did
I'll plug a little thing here. I do one of
the national editors for Lindy's College Football magazine, and they
did a championship edition for Indiana, and I think will
hit the news stand a little bit later this week.
I don't know if it'll be retailed in Seattle, but
(09:23):
I did a bunch of features for that. A bunch
of people contributed to it, so that was kind of
fun for me too to be involved in that. So
I'll put some stuff on my social test candles about
how you can get it if you're interested. I don't
know if anybody be interested out of here, but if
you want to read about this remarkable team and some
of the characters on it. And so I think they
do a real good job with these magazines. So I'll
pipe up when the time.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Happened, now very interested, and I will now utter words
that I never thought I would say to you as
a college football fan. I am very jealous of you
and your team. Man, all right, So congratulations, get home,
get some rest, soa cut up dude. Enjoy this and
we'll talk when you get back home. Man, appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Bud, You're gonna be the first guy on the list going.
You know, I'm tired of in the end, I'm you
know what I already, am I was. It was fine
ten minutes ago. Now the hell with you your loud
mouth for crying out loud. All right, go home, fly safe,
and we'll see when you get back.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Bud.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Thanks, defy, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
My guess to know with us in Miami. Unbelievable. I
mean people use that word a lot in this business.
Now this is unbelievable, Like it's even hard to believe. Now,
Indiana sixteen and OHO national champions of college football. And
that guy right there, the gas man's soaking it all up.
Good for him, because that dude, trust me, deserves it.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
All right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
We got out of here, back tomorrow three cracking weekly
next year
Podcasting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio now Doctor Safti and Dick powered by Emerald
quin Casino, the Betty and Capital of the Northwest on
Sports Radio nineties three point three kJ R FAM.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, boys and girls, we are back on a
busy Tuesday night right here on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Before we get to the hour of radio that everybody's
been waiting for, Cracking Weekly with Mike Benton coming up
next segment from seven to eight, what do you say?
We welcome in? Really the only Indiana fan I know.
I know he was on the morning show this morning
(00:36):
and he's on with us from Miami before he takes
off to go home and celebrate Indiana's national title. Our friend,
Mike Gastado And first of all, Mike, congratulations, my man,
pulling for.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You, thinking about you the entire night last night.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And number two, if I would have told you, I
don't know five years ago that one of your favorite
teams is gonna win a title in the next five years,
where would Indiana football have been on that list?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For you? Man? Of my favorite teams? If you tell him,
I probably said Washington first, right, you know, they always
seem to be stacked up and close to being there. No,
Indiana wouldn't even have been on the list. I would
I'm one of the fans Signetti talks about that when
he got there. I would have said to him, coach,
if you could win seven or eight games a year
(01:24):
and get us to a bowl and maybe even win
the ball game, will be ecstatic. I mean, that was
my expectation. I never saw this coming. I don't think
anybody did except maybe him. He spoke it into existence,
you know, he said, we're going to do this, and
he kept you know, I mean, you know, there's so
many great stories about him. One of the best that
kind of got lost in the shuffle, and he was
(01:44):
one year off. Was his first Big Ten media Day,
which they hold up at Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium.
He said, yeah, I wanted to come up here because
I want to see where we're going to be playing
this December for the Big Ten Championship. Everybody can come on, man,
And they didn't get there. And that, I mean, he
just kept saying outrageous stuff and then cover you know,
(02:06):
covering the checks and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, let's talk about what it was like to be
in that stadium last night. Man, I mean you mentioned
to me off the air it was nerve wracking, which
I would think makes it even more sweeter. Right that
there had to be some drama, you had to earn
this right to get to that championship last night, But
that that drive that resulted in that phenomenal Now, I
would assume immortal Fernando Mendoza touchdown run on fourth and four,
(02:33):
two fourth down decisions to go forth, the balls of
steel on signetti on that drive.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
What's the reaction?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What was your reaction when he decided to go forward
on not one but two fourth down plays.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I was really nervous. But again, I threw in with
this guy a long time ago. Like I said, at
the start, I would have been in those people doubting
him a little bit. But after you watch for a
while and you see what he's doing, and you listen
to what he says, you listen to players, it's like,
you know what, Okay, if that's what you think is best,
I'm gonna think it's best. Nevertheless, it was nerve wracking
(03:05):
in the stadium. I mean, it was the game. It's
funny how their postseason went. The Ohio State game, the
first game they played for the Big Ten title, and
this game against Miami were carbon copies of each other. Yeah,
just tense Ohio State more low scoring, but just tense
struggles where it felt like at any given second the
(03:27):
game could end. Was a big play. Excuse me? So
I was you know, it was nerve, right, you know,
the driving at one point. I'm my god, if Miami
doesn't pick six or they'll have the lead, right, you
know which. That's the funny thing is Miami never did
have the lead, but Indiana never got comfortable. Uh well,
he went for it. I just thought, you know what,
(03:47):
he knows what he said. I was nervous because he
seemed to second guess himself. Do I want to do this?
Do I not? He called the time I kind of
like Calen the Bore in the Alabama game in the
Rose Bowl, where he went through the whole Let me
they I didn't coach, just talk themselves into and out
of things all game long. We know that. So but
but you know, and again in the rearview mirror. Now, yeah,
(04:09):
I'm glad. It was an epic game. At the time,
I was hoping for another rules ball. I'm like, I
could use a five touchdown, that'd be It'd be just fun.
Or a Peach Bowl? Who was beating the Peach Bowl?
Do you remember it's been so long? Who wasn't we
spanked in that game?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
You live for Oregon getting thrilled like that?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well yeah, most of the time, you're right, You're right.
Who am I kidding?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But Mike, Mike, Mike Castin's with us, He's he's in Miami,
and I can tell your voice how exhausted you are
by the way. I mean, I I remember feeling the
same way a couple of years ago during that Husky run.
The difference is you got the title and my team
did not. So good for you. But I mean not
to be all corny on you, but you've known me
for a long time.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
What is this? What does this mean for Bloomington?
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, you know what does this mean for for
the for the school, for that town, for that community
to be Let's face it kind of a doormat of
college football one day and then King of the Hill
the next.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I think it's amazing. You know, basketball has always been
pretty good there, but it's been since nineteen eighty seven
that we want a basketball national championship. The university is
doing fine, and you know, the universities don't necessarily need
athletic success to have to have success, but it helps.
You know the amount of people that were exposed to
(05:28):
Indiana as a school and this story. I don't know,
there's got to be some people out there that are
sick in Indiana, but I think the average sports fan
is like, this is the coolest thing ever. Now by
next year people will be sick. I'll be like, all right,
I'm not even going to get their asses kicked. But
I think for now that everybody's like, God, this is great.
That the quarterbacks like a golden retriever and the team's
(05:48):
full of all these good guys at Signetti seems like
this great coach who doesn't have that streak a mean
guy in him. I mean, people said talk all the
time about oh, I bet he's really yelling at him
and the players. I'll say, he never yells at us.
He just says what he wants and lets you know
that's what's expected, but doesn't do it in a screaming way.
It's big for the for the school and for the
(06:09):
for the s and it's just big, the amount of fans.
I mean, I said, if you're if you're a fan
of my age, if you're sixty five years old, you've
seen him beat Ohio State three times in your life,
You've seen him win the Big Ten twice in your life.
Before this run, you hadn't seen him win a Bowl
game since ninety one, and they've only won three bowl games,
(06:32):
So you know, you stay a fan of the team.
They weren't obviously they're fill in the stadium now, but
they were, and they're shots of like how small some
of the crowds, But for the most part they get
twenty five to thirty five thousand people going to games,
which is not bad for a team that's always getting
their teeth kicked in, right, and then because to have
this happen, it's such a it's just a great feeling
(06:54):
for everybody, excuse me, everybody who along the way, you know,
gave up on him and stuck with him. I like
to tell a story. My brother Mark has had season
tickets since nineteen seventy three, and he went to the game.
He wouldn't see it. You couldn't sell him to get
like a dollar on a point he was going to
every game and would get frustrated, but never lost faith
(07:18):
and never lost his love for him. And so you know,
being next to him last night it was really fun,
you know, it was it was I don't know this,
The whole the whole experience has been surreal, but along
the way it stopped being surreal and I started believing.
And I'm not sure exactly when I mean, but if
somebody go, you know what, these guys you can't fake
(07:41):
being good in college football, right right? Yeah, you can't know,
and any guy it really, in any kind of sport,
you just can't. He can't fake it. So eventually you go, well,
you know it's the old joke. Boy, you've ever seen it.
He can get luckier more often. I mean, it's just
it's just bam bam, win you punch him them out
feed him against And that was us for years on
the other end of that. So it's kind of fun
to be the guy deliver in the bands instead of
(08:04):
getting them.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, you guys earned it, man, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And Mike, uh, well, we'll have you in at some
point over the spring or summer, I'm sure, and kind
of dive into more stories about this and all that.
But I mean, look, I've known you for a long time.
I know how excited you were for that ninety five
Mariner run and for the Sonics and the finals and
the Mariners in two thousand that that that first Seahawks
Super Bowl obviously in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
But I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that this.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Is number one on your on your on your sports
list as a fan and as a broadcast or whatever
anything you've ever been around in this business.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
This has got to be top of the hill.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
For you, on the only one that competes because of
the out of the blue factory some of the stories
you mentioned, you know, like you could see the Seahawks
coming to the Super Bowl, you could see the Sonics
ninety four, ninety five, they're getting better and better. It's
not a shock that they got to the finals. This
one out of the blue, like the ninety five Mariners,
where you know, one minute getting beat by everybody, the
(09:01):
next minute they're playing for the American League championship. And
that's how this was. It's it's incredible, and I did
I'll plug a little thing here. I do one of
the national editors for Lindy's College Football magazine, and they
did a championship edition for Indiana, and I think will
hit the news stand a little bit later this week.
I don't know if it'll be retailed in Seattle, but
(09:23):
I did a bunch of features for that. A bunch
of people contributed to it, so that was kind of
fun for me too to be involved in that. So
I'll put some stuff on my social test candles about
how you can get it if you're interested. I don't
know if anybody be interested out of here, but if
you want to read about this remarkable team and some
of the characters on it. And so I think they
do a real good job with these magazines. So I'll
pipe up when the time.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Happened, now very interested, and I will now utter words
that I never thought I would say to you as
a college football fan. I am very jealous of you
and your team. Man, all right, So congratulations, get home,
get some rest, soa cut up dude. Enjoy this and
we'll talk when you get back home. Man, appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Bud, You're gonna be the first guy on the list going.
You know, I'm tired of in the end, I'm you
know what I already, am I was. It was fine
ten minutes ago. Now the hell with you your loud
mouth for crying out loud. All right, go home, fly safe,
and we'll see when you get back.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Bud.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Thanks, defy, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
My guess to know with us in Miami. Unbelievable. I
mean people use that word a lot in this business.
Now this is unbelievable, Like it's even hard to believe. Now,
Indiana sixteen and OHO national champions of college football. And
that guy right there, the gas man's soaking it all up.
Good for him, because that dude, trust me, deserves it.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
All right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
We got out of here, back tomorrow three cracking weekly
next year
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