Best All-Time Turnarounds in Sports: Where do Indiana, Patriots, Cubs Rank?

Doormat. Glorified practice. Guaranteed win.

College football teams could have been forgiven for thinking that about Indiana when they saw the Hoosiers on their upcoming schedule. 

But that was before Curt Cignetti arrived in Bloomington.

Top-ranked Indiana was one of the most hapless college football programs, with more losses all time than any other FBS program in history before the Cignetti era began. Now, the Hoosiers are a wrecking ball and one of the most remarkable stories in sports. What they've achieved in two seasons is nothing short of historic. 

And ahead of Monday's College Football Playoff national championship game between No. 1 Indiana and the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes, the Hoosiers' quick progress has us wondering: What are the greatest two-season turnarounds in sports?

10. 2016 Chicago Cubs

There are plenty of worthy candidates from MLB for this list. Most recently, the Rangers and Diamondbacks both went from 100-loss teams in 2021 to unlikely World Series competitors in 2023 (though neither has been able to follow up on that success since). In 2010, the Giants won their first of three World Series of the decade, just a couple of years removed from consecutive 90-loss seasons in San Francisco. There's also the Rays, who made it to the World Series in 2008 after three straight last-place finishes. And there's the unlikely championships of the 1997 and 2003 Marlins. 

But the curse-breaking 2016 Cubs stand out here for history’s sake. Not only had it been 108 years since the last time they won a championship, but they also finished in fifth place for five straight seasons from 2010-14. They lost a lot (102 games in 2012, 96 in 2013, 89 in 2014) before making a drastic 24-win improvement in 2015, a season that ended with them getting swept in the NLCS. 

A year later, they won 103 games, took the NL Central by 17.5 games and had eight more wins than the next closest club. With a surprise World Series boost from Kyle Schwarber, who tore his ACL just six months prior, the 2016 Cubs finally put an end to the century-long Curse of the Billy Goat. – Rowan Kavner

9. 2001 New England Patriots

The Patriots won their first Super Bowl in the 2001 season, a year after finishing 5-11. New England went 8-8 in 1999.

The 2001 season will forever be remembered as the start of Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame career. An injury to starter Drew Bledsoe forced Brady, then a backup, into action and the former sixth-round NFL Draft pick never gave the job back. Including the playoffs that year, Brady went 14-3 as a starter (11-3 in the regular season). He led a game-winning field goal drive as time expired to beat the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Pats beat the Raiders in the divisional round and the Steelers (in Pittsburgh) in the AFC Championship game to reach the Super Bowl. 

That 2001 season started the Patriots’ dynasty — New England won six Super Bowls and appeared in three others from 2001-18. The franchise won three Lombardi Trophies from 2001-04. – Ben Arthur

8. 1969 New York Mets

As much as the Mets’ brand was being the "lovable losers," by the end of the 101-loss 1967 season, failing miserably was wearing thin and getting old. Attendance dropped at Shea Stadium, and it was no longer a fun pastime to watch the Mets trip over themselves.

The good news? Tom Seaver won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1967 and was quickly emerging as the best pitcher in the big leagues. Alongside Seaver, southpaw Jerry Koosman and an eventual Hall of Famer, right-handed flamethrower Nolan Ryan, formed a formidable pitching trio that turned the team’s fortunes around. Manager Gil Hodges provided the discipline and faith needed to transform the hapless Mets into a miracle. In 1968, they improved to a ninth-place finish in the NL, recording 73 wins for the first time in team history. 

Then came 1969: New York won 38 of its final 49 games and finished in first place in the NL with a 100-62 record. The Miracle Mets swept the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS (3-0) and defeated the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles (4-1) to become the world champions of baseball. Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? – Deesha Thosar

7. 1992 Dallas Cowboys

Coming out of the 1980s, the Cowboys were one of the NFL’s worst teams. They went 1-15 in 1989, Jerry Jones’ first season as owner. But three years later, they won the franchise’s third Super Bowl (and first in 15 years), blowing out the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. 

Before taking the Super Bowl that year, the Cowboys won seven games in 1990, followed by 11 in 1991, when the franchise made its first playoff appearance in six years (but lost in the divisional round). 

Dallas was truly a juggernaut down the stretch of that ‘92 season — it won its final five games, including the playoffs, by double digits. The team won three Super Bowls in a four-year span, boasting a top-5 scoring offense and defense in each of those seasons. Hall of Famer coach Jimmy Johnson and players Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin were integral to the Cowboys’ run of success at the start of the 90s. – Ben Arthur

6. 2003 USC Trojans

This isn’t exactly the same kind of turnaround as Indiana, since USC has claimed 11 national championships in football, as well as having eight Heisman Trophy winners. But there was a period of time when the Trojans’ program was struggling. USC went 5-7 in 2000 and then 6-6 in 2001, which was Pete Carroll’s first season. 

With a team that included players like Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu, the Trojans went 11-2 in 2002. And then in 2003, with a young Matt Leinert and Reggie Bush, USC went 12-1 and shared the national championship with LSU.

The Trojans won the national championship again in 2004 (beating Oklahoma) and played for another title in 2005, but they lost to Texas in one of the greatest college football games in history. Under Carroll, USC would go on to win at least 11 games through the 2008 season. – Laken Litman

5. 1980-81 Boston Celtics

Despite having already established themselves as a perennial powerhouse, the Celtics struggled in the 1978-79 season, finishing with the second-worst record in the NBA at 29-53. But that soon changed with the addition of Larry Bird. 

"Larry Legend" was actually drafted sixth overall in 1979, but opted to return to Indiana State, finishing as the unanimous National College Player of the Year. In the 1979-80 season, his impact was felt immediately — leading Boston to a 61-21 record as a rookie, along with an Eastern Conference finals appearance. 

The following season, Bird would go on to lead them to victory in the NBA Finals after averaging 21.2 points per game, 10.9 rebounds per game and 5.5 assists per game in his sophomore campaign. That 1980-81 season would mark the first of three titles in a six-year span for Boston, along with five NBA Finals appearances from 1981 to 1987. – FOX Sports Research

4. 1981 San Francisco 49ers

In Hall of Famer Bill Walsh’s first two seasons as head coach, the 49ers won just two and six games in 1979 and ‘80, respectively. But they broke out with 13 wins in the 1981 season. The Niners then beat the New York Giants in the divisional round and Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game — which included Dwight Clark's iconic game-winning touchdown known as "The Catch" — to reach Super Bowl XVI. San Francisco then beat the Cincinnati Bengals for the franchise's first Lombardi Trophy. 

The 1981 campaign marked Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana’s first as a starter. Over the next nine seasons, the 49ers won four Super Bowls. 

Only nine games were played in 1982, the year after the Niners won their first Super Bowl, due to a strike. But San Francisco rattled off 10 wins in 1983 (but it lost in the conference championship game), beginning a streak of 16 consecutive double-digit-win seasons for the franchise. – Ben Arthur

3. 1999 St. Louis Rams

Winner of just five games in 1997 and four games in ‘98, the Rams rattled off 13 wins in the 1999 regular season and reached Super Bowl XXXIV, where they took down the Tennessee Titans for the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory. Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce connected on a 73-yard touchdown with less than two minutes left to secure the Lombardi Trophy. 

That season kicked off the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams, who had the NFL’s top offense for three straight years (1999-2001) under coach Mike Martz, first the offensive coordinator (1999) and then head coach (2000-01) for the franchise during that era. Warner, Bruce, Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt were some of the key members of the offense during that time.  

After winning the Super Bowl, the Rams went 10-6 in 2000, losing in the Wild Card, but they reached the Super Bowl again in 2001 after a franchise-record 14 wins during the regular season. – Ben Arthur

2. 2015-16 Leicester City

As preposterous as it would’ve been for Leicester City’s supporters to dream of a title ahead of the 2015-16 Premier League season — when the Foxes somehow defied 5000-1 odds to become champions of soccer’s most hotly contested domestic circuit — doing so two years earlier would’ve been straight up impossible.

Back in 2014, Leicester wasn’t even in the Premier League. It had spent a full decade toiling in England’s lower divisions, including a season in the third tier, before winning the Championship in 2014-15 and, with it, automatic promotion back to the big time. Their stay wasn’t expected to last; many predicted that they’d be relegated by the spring of 2016. 

Instead, under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri, the humble Midlands-based club outpaced usual juggernauts Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United to finish atop the Premier League. Leicester’s success at the top was fleeting — despite being rewarded with a four-year extension, Ranieri was fired in early 2017 en route to a 12th place finish. 

These days, the Foxes are back in the second tier. Yet a decade later (and still the team's only English crown since kicking off 142 years ago), it remains among the most profoundly unlikely true stories in the history of global sports. – Doug McIntyre

1. 2025 Indiana Hoosiers

What head coach Curt Cignetti has done in such a short period of time is remarkable. And if his Hoosiers team beats Miami for the national championship Monday night, there will be no doubt they've earned this No. 1 spot.

Oftentimes, when coaches are hired, they have some kind of plan for how long it could take for the program to have success. Maybe you win a few more games in Year 1 than the team did the previous year and keep improving year after year until you reach your goals down the road. Cignetti’s overhaul was immediate. 

He took a Hoosiers team that went 4-8 in 2022 and 3-9 in 2023 and turned it into a College Football Playoff team in Year 1 and a Big Ten champion — and maybe even a national champion — in Year 2. 

Entering the 2025 season, Indiana had the most losses all-time of any FBS program in history with 715 across 136 seasons. The Hoosiers were a perennial conference doormat. It might be too early for Nick Saban comparisons, but if Saban’s Alabama was the dynasty of college football pre-transfer portal/NIL era, then Cignetti’s Indiana is the blueprint for what the future of the sport can look like. – Laken Litman

Honorable mention:

• 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football
• 1962 USC Trojans football
• 1991 Atlanta Braves
• 2007-08 Boston Celtics
• 2000 Oklahoma Sooners football

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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