Indiana Hoosiers are doing what they can to not be a one-year wonder with Curt Cignetti

It may not be a one-year wonder after all! According to Peegs.com, the Indiana Hoosiers are actively looking to extend their head football coach, Curt Cignetti. This is Cignetti's first year in Bloomington. He previously had been the head coach at James Madison, Elon and IUP. Cignetti's base salary at Indiana starts at $4 million annually with a $100,000 escalator each season before the incentives.

With the Hoosiers at 9-0 on the season and creeping closer to its first College Football Playoff appearance in school history, now is the time for Indiana to get out ahead of this. Indiana is not a football school by any stretch of the imagination. Conversely, when was the last time the Hoosiers played up to their lofty standard on the hardwood? With the power of Coach Cig, Indiana is changing.

Given that Cignetti is in his early-to-mid-60s, Indiana needs to make it a priority to make sure he never coaches anywhere else in his career. If the buyout is high enough, it may be quite difficult for him to be poached. However, we did see Indiana eat an absurd amount of money to move on from Cignetti's predecessor Tom Allen just last year. Allen had success at IU, but it was nothing like this.

How much money should it take to keep Cignetti employed at Indiana for the next several seasons?

Indiana Hoosiers want to make sure Curt Cignetti will never leave them

For as much success Cignetti had most recently at James Madison, it is one of those jobs that seemingly anyone can have success at. Whether they were competing for national titles at FCS, or making noise in their first few years in the Sun Belt, JMU is always delivers. What has been interesting is Cignetti is having way more success at his next job than others before him. Look at Mike Houston.

With Indiana being a playoff contender in essentially a Power Two conference, the Hoosiers should be able to pay Cignetti not only fairly, but quite handsomely. The TV money from being in the Big Ten, as well as the increased national exposure should more than justify it. The other thing to consider is Allen quickly found work as the Penn State defensive coordinator and may lead his own team again.

What I am getting at is the stiff buyout Indiana paid to get out from Allen's contract is looking less and less punitive by the week. If he gets hired as a head coach elsewhere, IU's ongoing financial obligations will become less and less. Thus, it would open up even more financial capital for Indiana to pay Cignetti as close to top-dollar as the program would allow. He has made IU nationally relevant.

It seems like all parties involved want to get it done, but it serves Indiana to act quite swiftly here.