Indiana and Curt Cignetti agreed to a lucrative new contract extension on Thursday as the program made sure it locked down its prestigious coach who was certainly on the radar of various universities seeking a new head coach.
The university announced the contract on Thursday afternoon. Just last November, Cignetti had received a new contract from the program, but less than a year later he's impressed enough to warrant another pay raise.
Cignetti's new contract will run for eight years and he'll collect an average of approximately $11.6 million per year. In total, he'll make around $92.8 million throughout the duration of his new deal, which makes him one of college football's highest paid coaches.
We'll take a look at how Cignetti stacks up against the other top-earning coaches in the business:
Highest paid college football coaches
Coach
School
Average Annual Value
Kirby Smart
Georgia
$13.282 million
Ryan Day
Ohio State
$12.575 million
Curt Cignetti
Indiana
$11.6 million (approximate)
Lincoln Riley
USC
$11.537 million
Dabo Swinney
Clemson
$11.447 million
Steve Sarkisian
Texas
$10.8 million
Dan Lanning
Oregon
$10.4 million
Kalen DeBoer
Alabama
$10.25 million
Brian Kelly
LSU
$10.175 million
Bill Belichick
North Carolina
$10.1 million
Lane Kiffin
Ole Miss
$9 million
Eli Drinkwitz
Missouri
$9 million
Josh Heupel
Tennessee
$9 million
Mark Stoops
Kentucky
$9 million
Deion Sanders
Colorado
$8.975 million
With his new deal, Cignetti is projected to become the third-highest paid coach in college football on an annual basis, just ahead of USC's Lincoln Riley. Only Georgia's Kirby Smart and Ohio State's Ryan Day make more per year than Cignetti.
It's a well-earned contract extension for Cignetti, and the timing makes sense given the vacancies emerging across the sport. Penn State fired longtime coach James Franklin after the Nittany Lions suffered three straight losses, and Florida's Billy Napier is heavily rumored to be on the chopping block, too.
Fischer: Eight Candidates for Penn State Football Coaching Search After James Franklin Firing
With some top programs seeking new leadership, Indiana boldly declared that Cignetti was off limits by inking him to the big-money contract. Now, he's set to be a Hoosier for another eight years.
Indiana sits tied with Ohio State atop the Big Ten standings. The program is vying for its first conference championship since 1967, and they certainly looked the part of a championship-caliber team when they defeated Dan Lanning's Oregon at Autzen Stadium.
Cignetti is 36–6 in his college head coaching career. He won 19 of 23 games at James Madison from 2022 to '23 and is 17–2 at Indiana since taking over as the program's coach last year.
