Well anybody looking to lure Curt Cignetti away from Indiana will have to look elsewhere as the Hoosiers made sure Cignetti isn’t going anywhere. Indiana is 17-2 under Cignetti with a College Football Playoff appearance since he took over ahead of the 2024 season and they saw just how valuable he would be. Amid Penn State seeking a new coach and Florida on the verge of firing Billy Napier, Indiana realized they needed to act quickly.
Cignetti signed an eight-year extension, which will pay him $11.6 million per year through 2033. Though the buyout wasn’t immediately reported, it will probably be one of if not the most expensive buyout for a college football coach. With it, it eliminates Cignetti as a coaching replacement for any team seeking a new one, which isn’t necessarily ideal.
Indiana and head coach Curt Cignetti have agreed to an eight-year contract extension, per the school.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) October 16, 2025
Will pay him $11.6 million annually. pic.twitter.com/BIxBYLEzPn
With the new deal Cignetti just got a whole lot of pressure put on him to not only continue this season’s success, but keep Indiana as a Big Ten powerhouse and national contender. Indiana could either end up with a Kirby Smart or Jimbo Fisher, only time will tell.
Indiana was right to pay Curt Cignetti and the timing is poetic
It’s poetic that in an age of college football where it’s an arms race for the biggest NIL budgets to get access to the best players in college football, Cignetti gets an extension right as he was going to be one of the most popular coaching candidates on the market. It’s everything that is the dramatics of college football.
Indiana extending Cignetti is two-fold. For one, Indiana doesn’t want to have to worry about another decades-long rebuild in the Big Ten and can focus on truly contending with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon in conference play. On top of that, it gives them some stability. When you look at the teams that constantly compete for championships, it usually comes down to the fact that they have very little roster turnover and very little coach changeover.
Penn State, Florida and everyone else is now back to square one with their respective coaching searches
The move by Indiana has a lot of collateral damage, specifically on Florida and Penn State. Though Florida hasn’t officially fired Napier yet, it’s bound to happen soon according to reports so they’ll have to find new candidates. As far as Penn State, it’s probably the biggest blow they could have had to their pending coaching search.
It also brings on a reality that maybe the Penn State job, especially since that’s the one that’s officially open, isn’t as good of a job as Penn State hoped it would be. It brings on a reality that finding James Franklin’s replacement won’t be as easy as Penn State thought, which could throw a ripple in their coaching search.
Cignetti was right to re-sign with Indiana. If things work out, he ultimately ends up in one of the best situations in college football and if it doesn’t, well he’ll gladly collect a hefty buyout. It also means that he won’t have to worry about tarnishing his reputation either. Like he said when he first got to Indiana: Google me; I win. There’s no guarantee had he left Indiana he’d still be winning. I guess we’ll never know and he’ll continue building the Hoosiers until then.