Less than a year after Curt Cignetti's hiring, Indiana football is locking in its new architect. The university announced Saturday that it has agreed to an eight-year contract extension with its first-year head coach, a deal worth an average of $8 million annually with an additional $1 million retention bonus each year. The contract runs through the 2032 season.
The extension comes amid Indiana's best start in school history, a 10-0 campaign that has vaulted the Hoosiers into national prominence and breathed new life into a program that had struggled for decades to find consistent success. Indiana ranks No. 5 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings.
"Since arriving on campus, Coach Cignetti has been the architect of one of college football's greatest turnarounds and has shown the world that IU is also a football school," Indiana University President Pamela Whitten said in a statement. "The success he has brought to Indiana football is shining a light on all that is amazing about Indiana University."
Cignetti was making $4.5 million. The new deal makes him the highest-paid employee in University history, notes the IndyStar, which also reports:
"Cignetti will receive "further assurances around program infrastructure and support. Those assurances likely include commitments in the form of things like staffing and assistant-coaching salary pools.
IU is also in the planning and financing stages of a substantial Memorial Stadium renovation, one Cignetti can now help shape."
Cignetti's transformation of the Hoosiers has been swift and unapologetic, in line with the 63-year-old coach's unshakable confidence. "I win. Google me," he famously declared during his introductory press conference last December.
That bravado has been backed by results. After inheriting a roster decimated by departures, Cignetti orchestrated one of the most aggressive rebuilds in college football. Indiana's 31-player transfer haul ranked third nationally, headlined by former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who has since become one of the Big Ten's top passers.
The turnaround isn't just about numbers; it's about attitude. From the moment he arrived, Cignetti made clear he wasn't interested in moral victories or modest goals. "If we go to a bowl, it's a great year? Bullshit," he said. "You want to be the best."
And Cignetti knows what it takes to win. The son of College Football Hall of Famer Frank Cignetti Sr., he's spent a lifetime around the game, from recruiting Julio Jones and Mark Ingram as Alabama's first recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban to turning James Madison into an FBS contender. He even helped mold NFL legend Philip Rivers as a young quarterbacks coach at NC State.
At every stop, Cignetti has stuck to his "blueprint" -- a methodical, no-nonsense approach that has yielded a 10-0 record and positioned Indiana as a Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff contender.
"When I came in, we needed a lot of new faces," Cignetti said earlier this season. "I felt like we really flipped the roster. All we had to do was put them on the field. I've just had success and expected success."
The success has exceeded expectations. Indiana's rise from Big Ten afterthought to national contender is a story as much about culture as it is about talent. "I'm not going to tolerate not being successful," Cignetti said.
For a program with just two winning seasons since 1994, the turnaround is nothing short of remarkable. But for Cignetti, it's simply business as usual.
"I operate a little better when I have a chip on my shoulder," he said.
As Indiana fans dream of a postseason run, the university has ensured the man behind the resurgence isn't going anywhere. But the chip on his shoulder has at least entered a new tax bracket.