Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has another new contract.
Cignetti has now signed more contract extensions (three) than he has spent years at Indiana (two). Though you can understand why the Hoosiers are so eager to make sure he’s not leaving anytime soon. Indiana is 27-2 in Cignetti’s two years at the school and went 16-0 in 2025 to win the national championship over Miami.
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Per the Indy Star, Cignetti’s new deal goes through the 2033 season and averages over $13 million per season. He joins LSU’s Lane Kiffin and Georgia’s Kirby Smart as coaches who are making over $13 million a year.
Cignetti’s previous contract extension came in October as the Hoosiers were No. 3 in the AP Top 25 and were — at the time — experiencing their highest ranking ever in the AP poll. That deal was an eight-year extension that pushed Cignetti’s average salary to $11.6 million a season. At the time, Cignetti said that he planned to retire as Indiana’s coach.
His first contract extension came in 2024 as Indiana made the College Football Playoff and only lost to Ohio State and Notre Dame.
That second deal included a provision to rework it that was triggered in January when the Hoosiers beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl to advance to College Football Playoff semifinal.
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Per the terms of that October extension, Cignetti would become one of the three highest-paid coaches in college football if the Hoosiers were one of the last four teams playing in the playoff. The school would have 120 days following the semifinals to make that renegotiation a reality.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is set to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after leading the Hoosiers to the national title. With Mendoza all but certain to leave for the NFL after winning the Heisman, Cignetti and his staff moved quickly to secure a quarterback for the 2026 season before the 2025 season was officially over. The Hoosiers signed former TCU QB Josh Hoover to be the team’s QB in 2026. Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s younger brother and the team’s backup in 2025, subsequently transferred to Georgia Tech.
