Everyone seems to be in the mood for stealing Curt Cignetti away from Indiana, but the program clearly wants him the most. That’s why the Hoosiers are going all in for the head coach, who will now be rewarded handsomely for his work at Bloomington.

Cignetti signed a brand-new contract with Indiana, which bumped his salary to a whopping $13.2 million. The deal runs through 2033, which means the trailblazing head coach will be earning $105.6 million by that time. That makes him the third head coach in college football history to have a $100 million+ contract. He follows Kirby Smart ($130 million) and Dabo Swinney ($115 million).

The opportunity for this third contract arose through the good-faith review clause in the previous one. It mandated that Indiana make him one of the Top 3 coaches nationally if Cignetti reached the semi-final. Considering that he has won the National Championship, this new agreement seems fitting.

Cignetti’s annual salary is close to that of Smart, who is earning $13.28 million at Georgia.  The former is now the second-highest paid head coach in college football, pushing LSU’s Lane Kiffin to the third position. Cignetti’s current salary is now triple what he was originally signed for. Indiana clearly wants more of the National Championship-winning coach and is willing to splurge on him.

“We are committed to investing in IU Football in such a way that we can compete at a championship level, and the No. 1 priority in doing that is ensuring that Coach Cignetti is the leader of our program,” AD Scott Dolson said in a statement after Cignetti signed his second contract extension last year.

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While there have been rumors of many NFL teams wanting to pursue the coach, he has firmly declared that he wasn’t “an NFL guy.” The Hoosiers are giving their all to make the most of what could be the league’s biggest loss.  It also means that the future for Indiana football looks promising under Cignetti.

The head coach is a master in the portal, since these players have been crucial in Indiana’s turnaround. This year, he’s got some particular big fishes, like Josh Hoover, WR Nick Marsh, CB AJ Harris, and EDGE Tobi Osunsanmi. They are expected to deliver a solid impact on a team that now has double the momentum, after winning the Big Ten Championship and the Natty. Plus, Indiana can also be expected to raise the bar in the upcoming NFL drafts, since Cignetti sent 9 (program-record) to the Combine this year.

Indiana was bound to honor the coach who gave college football a story for the ages. But now that all the pleasantries are done and dusted, can Cignetti continue to be college football’s biggest highlight?

Urban Meyer gives Curt Cignetti some tough advice

Nobody thought Indiana could make the playoffs in 2025, but boy, were the doubters proven wrong. After 2025, it has now become a fact that Indiana is as good as all of the other marquee programs in the sport. But now that the Hoosiers are at the top, Cignetti has a tough job ahead of him.

“Climbing mountains is fun. But very few teams have done it back-to-back,” Urban Meyer told Curt Cignetti on the February 3 episode of The Triple Option. “To me, it’s all about us still. Are we meeting the standard on a daily basis? Are we meeting the standard consistently?”

The former Ohio State coach won three National Championships, so there’s some weight to his words. Indiana has already invested in Cignetti and the team for him to be able to deliver upon those expectations. He’s proven them twice and should be able to do so many more times in the future. But the onus is also on the players to help Cignetti succeed on high levels. His ask from them is much higher than what he asked of his 2025 team. Per the AD’s demand, championships should now be the standard at Bloomington.

Curt Cignetti set that precedent with a paycheck that was already a very lucrative one. Now that he is powered up with an even bigger one, there should be no doubts about Indiana’s second run to the National Championship.