Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti has signed a new eight-year contract which runs through the end of the 2033 regular season and will pay him an average annual salary of $11.6 million, the school announced Thursday.
“At Indiana University, we are committed to performing at the highest levels in everything we do, and no one has exemplified that more than Coach Cignetti,” Indiana president Pamela Whitten said via press release. “Put simply, Cig is a winner. From last year’s College Football Playoff appearance to this year’s top-3 national ranking, the IU Football program’s success has been tremendous. Curt and Manette Cignetti are home in Indiana and we are delighted that the Cignetti family will be Hoosiers for many years to come.”
Cignetti, who was coaching in the FCS ranks at James Madison just four years ago, has quickly established himself as one of the best coaches in college football. He has led Indiana, not remotely a football power historically, to a 17-2 record (11-1 in Big Ten) in his first 1 1/2 years leading the Hoosiers.
In his first season in 2024, Cignetti was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and FWAA’s Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, leading Indiana to a program-record 11 wins and its first College Football Playoff berth. The Hoosiers won a combined nine games in the three years before his arrival.
IU followed that up well in Cignetti’s second season, rocketing to the best ranking in program history (No. 3) after becoming the first team to win at Oregon since 2022 with a 30-20 win in Eugene on Oct. 11 to improve to 6-0 (3-0) on the year.
“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,” IU vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics Scott Dolson said via press release. “His accomplishments during the last season and a half have been nothing short of remarkable. As much as anyone, he believed in what was possible with our program, and he’s turned that belief into reality. This is a great day for IU Football and Indiana University. I look forward to working alongside Coach Cignetti for many years to come.”
Cignetti’s extension is a resounding statement about Indiana’s commitment to football. Cignetti’s name was being thrown around for the Penn State coaching vacancy and he was likely to be discussed with multiple other forthcoming job openings in what is expected to be a chaotic coaching carousel.
