Curt Cignetti Is Now The Second-Highest Paid Coach In College Football

Few college football programs have experienced a turnaround as impressive as Indiana University. Before the 2024 season, the Hoosiers had never won double-digit games in a single season. The school only had three winning seasons this century, in fact. After hiring Curt Cignetti, things immediately changed. Cignetti led the Hoosiers to an 11-2 record in 2024, which featured a trip to the College Football Playoff. He followed that up with a perfect 16-0 record in 2025, culminating in a national championship.

How did the Hoosiers repay the man who brought the school the most success it's ever seen? By making him one of the richest coaches in college football.

Cignetti and Indiana had already agreed to an extension, but the full details were released on Monday. Cignetti will make $105.6 million over eight years, averaging $13.2 million annually. Next season, he's slated to make $13,025,000, which puts him second among head coaches. Only Georgia's Kirby Smart ($13.3 million) will earn more.

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Cignetti will make more annually than Lane Kiffin, who notoriously left Ole Miss during the season to take a job with LSU. The Rebels reached the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, losing to the runner-up Miami Hurricanes. Kiffin received an extra $500,000 thanks to an incentive he had from his Ole Miss contract. In a delightful twist, LSU paid that bonus.

There are also incentives in Cignetti's contract, which includes bonuses for achieving a certain number of conference wins and reaching different levels of the College Football Playoff. His deal also includes a retention bonus of $1 million per season, which he'll earn every November 30. Cignetti's base salary is only $500,000; the rest of his annual money will come from outside, marketing, and promotional income.

The deal keeps Cignetti with Indiana through the 2033 season. He's already a legend on the Bloomington campus. The Hoosier faithful can't wait to see what he might accomplish over the next eight years.