After leading Indiana to the national title, coach Curt Cignetti has finalized a contract with the school that will pay him an average of $13.2 million through the 2033 season, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The length of Cignetti's deal does not change, but his salary will increase from $11.6 million annually.

Indiana announced a new deal for Cignetti in October, but it included a "good market faith review" that activated if the Hoosiers reached the College Football Playoff semifinal, which they after a Jan. 1 win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The review required the sides to meet within 120 days after the CFP semifinal and adjust Cignetti's salary to rank no less than third among active head coaches, according to the term sheet.

The $13.2 million annual salary places Cignetti alongside Georgia's Kirby Smart and new LSU coach Lane Kiffin as the only coaches earning at least $13 million nationally. Cignetti's contract has been revised three times in two seasons, as he arrived in late 2023 with a six-year, $27 million deal.

Cignetti is 27-2 at Indiana, which won its first national title in 2025 and its first outright Big Ten title since 1945.

After Indiana announced his new contract in October, Cignetti, 64, said he planned on retiring at the school.

"I couldn't be more proud to be a Hoosier," Cignetti said. "The way that this state has embraced us and our success in football has meant more to me than anything else."

The agreement announced in October raised Cignetti's buyout to $15 million if he left for another job and would pay him his full remaining salary if fired without cause. Indiana also has awarded new multiyear contracts to coordinators Mike Shanahan (offense) and Bryant Haines (defense), who last week won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant.

"We're all-in, and going to continue to invest and make certain that we've got our priorities in line," athletic director Scott Dolson told ESPN in October. "[Cignetti is] Priority 1, and then it's retaining our staff, and it's having the resources to build a roster."

The Indianapolis Star first reported terms of Cignetti's latest contract.

Paul Allen and Pete Bercich will broadcast 9 to Noon from Indianapolis on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Listen live on KFAN 100.3-FM or visit kfan.com (or listen in the iHeart app).
The programming will include interviews with Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski, who was selected to guide the team's offseason efforts after Minnesota parted ways with former General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
O'Connell and Brzezinski are planning to participate in separate on-the-record sessions with Twin Cities media members who travel to Indianapolis.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/47986101

Less than a week away now, get ready...

Nothing from JJM lately? I mean, maybe a pix or 2 of the kid and the pup?  

Whats going in the garden this Spring?

Maybe he's been told radio silence for now?

We've had an near impossible week.  What should be one hard thing at a time is 3x.  They say the good lord doesn't throw more at you then you can handle but he's trying damn hard to break us.

https://www.nfl.com/news/daniel-jeremiah...-draft-2-0

I mean, these guys are just bound and determined to have us draft a safety even if it's a massive reach. They've only been wrong for going on a decade now, so what's another year?

I think I'd add Wake Forest's Demond Claiborne to this list linked below. This class doesn't have the depth of last year's class, but right now it seems there are 7 RBs that I'd be pretty happy with: Love, Price, Coleman, Johnson, Washington, Claiborne and Singleton. While I loved Singleton the first time I put him on (he's the best physical specimen in this class) his poor final season does cause some concern. 

Still, unless we bring back Aaron Jones, and I doubt we do, we need a starter on day one, so I think this could be a position where we tap into the free agency market. Breece Hall, Travis Etienne and Kenneth Walker III all free agents, with Etienne the most likely to hit the market IMO. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/SG2o8GS_NJg?s...OyijBISGVh

...was misplaying their hand with Daniel Jones. He was their ace-in-the-hole. There was a reason he was signed before the end of the year to the practice squad. I'm sure that JJM NOT being able to practice for so long rehabbing the knee injury and getting up to playing weight there were question marks. He's very young. I think if he could have run the PS team and get QB2 reps behind Uncle Sammy all year they wouldn't have felt that way. All the mental work in the world won't cut it against actual reps. He had none of those. Then they gave serious thought to Aaron Rodgers as the offseason/training camp went on but JJM started to get in a positive groove, showed he knew the offense and commanded it and that practice against New England I think put the nail in the coffin of bringing Rodgers aboard. Impartial observers thought he seriously outplayed Drake Maye during those. 

So it really was a confluence of things that worked to undermine the season, but even with those things having Daniel Jones as QB2 or he wins that job outright would have changed the Viking's season last year and they would have made the playoffs. Hell, they almost made them without him and all the turmoil. All the fans screaming over KOC's playcalling, the Wilfs, JJ's bad plays, not running enough, etc. and really by far the lynchpin for a subpar season were injuries and no Daniel Jones. Simple as that. The NFCN is oh so winnable. Hey, let the sunshine in....