LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Two years ago, Indiana football wasn’t an afterthought.
It was what happened after the afterthought.
No Big Ten program had lost more games. None had won fewer. Memorial Stadium was a mausoleum. Cold concrete, cold fans, and colder football. Even the optimism felt pre-frozen.
This was not where renaissance stories begin. This was where coaching careers went to be humbled, where hot-seaters cooled to room temperature, and where visiting teams treated the place like an ATM with hashmarks.
And then Curt Cignetti walked in.
He didn’t just come with belief. He came with bluster. He told everyone — loudly — that Indiana would win. He told reporters to “Google me.” And somehow, impossibly, he backed it up.
He came with a plan. And — thanks to the transfer portal — he came with players, too. The rest is history still in the making. You don't need Google to find him now. You can use Quicken.
On Thursday, Indiana signed him to an eight-year contract worth a reported $11.6 million per year, making him the third-highest paid coach in college football, behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day. That’s right. Indiana, once the league’s lovable doormat, now has a coach with a richer deal than Lincoln Riley or Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer.
Let’s let that breathe a moment.
From IUP to the VIP. From Elon to elite. From leaving James Madison to leaving the James Franklin memorial audition line before it even forms.
Penn State was practically building a regional campus in Bloomington to keep tabs on the native son.
So this wasn’t just about the future. It was about the now.
Cignetti has Indiana at 6-0, ranked No. 3 in the nation, and riding a 17-2 stretch that includes an 11-1 record in Big Ten play and a College Football Playoff berth. They’ve beaten top-10 teams. They’ve sold out every Big Ten game. They are a four-touchdown favorite this weekend over Michigan State.
The same Indiana that once thought a close loss to Michigan was progress now dreams — seriously — of playoff wins.
So this contract? It’s not just a reward. It’s a $92.8 million firewall.
It locks out the noise. Ends the speculation. And gives Cignetti the runway to finish what no one thought possible in Bloomington.
Two years ago this month, Indiana had just lost its third straight game — to Rutgers — in front of a home crowd of 43,000, most of which was gone by halftime. The program was gasping. Now, you can’t find a seat.
That’s the power of a coach who’s spent his career turning overlooked places into overachievers. He did it in the PSAC. He did it at Elon. He did it at James Madison. And now he’s doing it in the unlikeliest place of all — the Big Ten. In fact, he’s winning at a higher rate in the Big Ten than he did in those smaller conferences.
I’d call this a triumph for the “little guys.” Even if not many little guys can afford an $11.6 million salary.
Indiana is the guy in rags who turned out to be richer than Jeff Bezos after Prime Day.
And it’s not just the money. It’s the message.
This says Indiana means it. That Cignetti meant it when he said he believed it could be done here. And that what’s happening in Bloomington is no longer a fluke. It’s a foundation. You cannot argue that Cignetti isn't a fit in Bloomington.
"We've accomplished a lot here in a short amount of time, but still have a lot of work to do,” Cignetti said in a video message Thursday. “So I couldn't be more proud to be a Hoosier, and I plan on retiring as a Hoosier. The way this state has embraced us and our success in football has meant more to me than anything else. I just wanted to get on camera and let you know that Curt Cignetti is going to work daily to make Indiana the best they can be."
From my time living and working in Indiana, I can tell you a trusted saying is, Make hay while the sun shines.
Could this be a contract they regret someday? Could there come a season when the sun isn't shining and Hoosiers ask, "Why did we promise so much hay?"
Maybe. That’s how this sport works. Schools get burned more often than not.
But that’s the price of opportunity — and Indiana has never had one quite like this. If you can swing it, you swing.
Indiana just swung for the fences. It made the hay.
Now it just hopes the sun shines for a good, long while.
More Indiana Sports News:
Indiana extends Cignetti through 2033, making him one of college football's highest-paid coaches
Coffee with Crawford | In praise of late bloomers: At 64, Indiana's Cignetti is just getting started
DeVries era at Indiana set to begin with questions, absences, and optimism
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