Hoosiers receive hero's welcome in return to Bloomington as football national champions

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Hoosiers were ready to party Tuesday night, and hundreds of loyal fans joined them when they arrived back on campus in Bloomington.

Turning out in freezing temperatures and brutally cold wind chills, fans, players and coaches celebrated college football's implausible national champions. The heartwarming scene reminded fans how Indiana's journey emulated the Hollywood version in "Hoosiers.”

“Hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoo-siers,” fans chanted as six team buses pulled into the south side of the team's practice facility.

At traditional football powers such as Alabama, Michigan or Ohio State, mid-January scenes like this can be an expectation. Bloomington is different.

Here, success is measured in banners rather than trophies, and athletes are expected to pride themselves on playing for the name on the front of their jerseys. Here, fans embrace tales of the work ethic of players from the small dots on their state map and pride themselves on the notion that in 49 other states, basketball is just, well, basketball. In Indiana, it's akin to a religion.

Coach Curt Cignetti and his football Hoosiers are upending those traditions.

In two seasons, they created a compelling story — a rags-to-riches tale of college football's losingest program capturing its first national title. Indiana beat Miami 27-21 Monday night on the Hurricanes' home field — the pro-Hoosiers crowd made it feel like a game in Bloomington — and sealed the milestone with an interception by the nephew of a former Miami player.

How inspirational was this season?

“I am a Purdue graduate but I have worked at IU for almost 20 years, and I told my colleagues today this is the first year ever I rooted for IU,” Leah Mullins said, referring to Indiana's biggest rival. “I had to pull myself away from the Boilermakers because this season has just been so inspiring and so exciting and there's just like, such a camaraderie within the community.”

That sentiment was on full display Tuesday night.

Whether it was people dressed in Indiana's trademark crimson-and-cream candy-striped pants, IU window flags fluttering in the breezy air or the Hoosiers victory flag waving high above the stadium with the sun setting behind it, the excitement was evident.

On the main street leading to the stadium, somebody added the words “national champ” to a display of wooden cutouts that has steadily grown with each win this season. The Hoosiers became the first team since the 1890s to finish 16-0.

There were long lines to purchase national championship gear at a local sporting goods store earlier Tuesday and when word came that the team had landed at Indianapolis International Airport, about an hour's drive northwest of Bloomington, the parking lots started filling up.

But this is so new to Indiana, many fans were in the wrong location to catch a glimpse of Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, defensive leader Aiden Fisher, Cignetti or the trophy. So they ran to their cars, followed the blaring sirens from the police escort and pulled in behind the buses.

“I haven't seen Bloomington so connected and so ecstatic over anything in like a long time,” said Anika Drichel, a native of the college town of 85,000. “It's so exciting.”

Some became believers when Cignetti won a school-record 11 games in 2024, with the only losses coming at eventual national champion Ohio State and eventual runner-up Notre Dame. Others hopped on board as Cignetti’s team beat then-No. 3 Oregon on the road in October or after the Hoosiers captured their first outright Big Ten title since 1945 by beating the Buckeyes. Others held out until the clock ran out on Monday night.

Those who didn't get their chance to celebrate Tuesday will have other opportunities. Mendoza was scheduled to do an autograph session at a sporting goods store on Wednesday morning. The trophy will be on display at a grocery store on Wednesday and a Wal-Mart on Thursday.

An official celebration was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Some just couldn't wait that long.

“When it started getting really good I was like, ‘Well, you know maybe I should (get on board), this is really great,” Mullins said. “And Fernando is such a great kid, I mean all of them. They're all such good guys, it's almost like, How can you not support these guys?”

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Indiana University's victory flag flies over Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Mike Marot)

Wooden cutouts showing support for Indiana University line a street near Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Mike Marot)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lindsey Halligan, who as a top Justice Department prosecutor pursued indictments against a pair of President Donald Trump's adversaries, is leaving her position as her months-long tenure has now concluded, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday night.

Halligan's departure from the role of interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia came as multiple judges were casting doubt on her ability to legally remain in the job following a court ruling two months ago that said her appointment was illegal. She was appointed in September to a 120-day stint, which concluded Tuesday.

“The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided,” Bondi said in a social media post on X announcing Halligan's departure. “We are living in a time when a democratically elected President's ability to staff key law enforcement positions faces serious obstacles.”

The announcement followed dual orders from separate judges that marked a dramatic new front in an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and the federal court over the legitimacy of Halligan’s appointment. A White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, Halligan was picked for the role by President Donald Trump in September only to have a judge rule two months later that the appointment was illegal.

In one order, M. Hannah Lauck, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Virginia and a nominee of President Barack Obama, directed a clerk to publish a vacancy announcement on the court's website and with the news media and said she was “soliciting expressions of interest in serving in that position.” The judge noted that the temporary appointment given to Halligan, who has since been nominated by Trump but not confirmed by the Senate, expired Tuesday.

In a separate order, U.S. District Judge David Novak said he was striking the words “United States Attorney” from the signature block of an indictment in a case that was before him, and barred Halligan from continuing to present herself with that title. He said he would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Halligan if she violated his order and persisted in identifying herself in court filings as a U.S. attorney, and said other signatories could be subject to discipline as well.

“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position. And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” Novak wrote. “In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”

The order from Novak, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during the Republican president's first term in office, followed a defiant filing signed by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in which they stood behind Halligan's authority and accused the judge of abusing his power by demanding that Halligan publicly explain why she continues to identify herself as a U.S. attorney.

“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” Novak wrote.

“The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat and will instead analyze the few points that Ms. Halligan offers to justify her continued identification of her position as United States Attorney before the Court,” he added.

Halligan was named to the job on an acting basis in September after the Trump administration effectively forced out veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert amid pressure to bring charges against two of Trump's political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Halligan secured the indictments, but the win was short-lived. In November, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Halligan had been illegally appointed as an acting U.S. attorney and dismissed both cases. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.

The U.S. attorneys who serve atop dozens of regional Justice Department offices across the country are typically appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Attorneys general are empowered to directly install interim U.S. attorneys who can serve for 120 days, after which federal judges in the district have the authority to appoint a prosecutor to serve until the vacancy is filled.

FILE - Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)