BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football's new coach Curt Cignetti signed a six-year contract with a starting salary of $4 million per year.

The base value of the contract is $25.5 million ($4.25 million a year) without any bonuses.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding Cignetti signed on Nov. 30, he will make an annual base salary of $500,000 and receive an annual outside, marketing and promotion income starting at $3.5 million from Dec. 1, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024. It increases $100,000 each year of the contract maxing out in 2029 at $4 million.


Cignetti will also receive an annual retention bonus worth $250,000 on Nov. 30 in each contract year.

The coach had an annual salary at James Madison of $677,311, which ranked No. 108 in the USA Today’s annual coaching database.


Former coach Tom Allen’s annual salary was $4.9 million after he received an extension in March 2021.

More:From state title win to official visit: How Indiana football landed prized 2024 QB recruit

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The agreement includes several bonuses, most notably, for each bowl appearance. Each time the Hoosiers reach a bowl game, Cignetti will receive a 1-year extension, $250,000 permanent increase to his annual outside, marketing and promotional income as well as a $500,000 increase to the budget for football staff personnel.

There's also a separate one-time $200,000 bonus for each bowl appearance the team makes outside the College Football Playoff.

Among the other bonuses spelled out in the contract are payouts for the highest finish within the Big Ten standings, reaching the College Football Playoff and annual coach of the year awards.

The university also promised him an annual allowance of $10,000 on adidas products, a courtesy car for the term of his employment, tickets and season passes for all home sporting events, unlimited family use of the Pfau Golf Course and meals at the athletic dining facility.







Indiana also will cover Cignetti's buyout at JMU and pay him a $25,000 moving allowance.

After paying out a $15.5 buyout to Tom Allen — that was negotiated down from $20.8 million — Cignetti has a high-priced buyout structure as well:

Dec. 1, 2023-Nov. 30 2024: $20 million
Dec. 1, 2024-Nov. 30, 2025: $17 million
Dec. 1, 2025-Nov. 30, 2026: $14 million
Dec. 1, 2026-Nov. 30, 2027: $9 million
Dec. 1, 2027-Nov. 30, 2028: $6 million
Dec. 1, 2028-Nov. 30, 2029: $3 million
Cignetti would owe the school $8 million in the first year if he resigns, $6 million in Year 2, $4 million in Year 3, $2 million in Year 4 and $1 million in the final two years of the deal.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

Wow. And this is Indiana, not Michigan or Ohio State. It's preposterous, frankly.

Supposedly they came to him with a big offer that he declined so they came back and doubled it and yet he's not making what their previous guy made. That first offer was probably insulting.

I mean realistically that contract is probably triple what JMU offered so you cannot fault him for chasing the money. His grandkids' kids are going to be taken care of with that

(12-14-2023 06:51 AM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  I mean realistically that contract is probably triple what JMU offered so you cannot fault him for chasing the money. His grandkids' kids are going to be taken care of with that

That’s pretty much what I said from day 1, but this deal is not the $30-$40mil guarantee first floated. And if this deal is twice what was originally offered it was so much less than the previous guy at IU, and not unattainable at JMU, that it must have been insulting. The original deal being 1/2 would put him at roughly $2mil/year, which would’ve been enough to run back to JMU to squeeze them for a raise and stay with a better program.

As more time passes, and more comes out, it sounds to me Cig was leaving on first train out.

Reports are many of these guys were going to transfer even if the coaches stayed.
Many comments from players make it sound like they didn’t really connect that well with Cig.
I have yet to see a portal guy going to visit or showing offers from Indiana.

My take is Cig realized next year was going to be a struggle and he didn’t want to ruin his rep and miss his chase at catching the bag so he took the IU gig for whatever pay day he could negotiate and get.

The most interesting clause to me was the bowl part. $250k added to his contract AND an extra year to his contract for ANY bowl made. Also gets $200k bonus for the bowl, and another $50k for winning.

Basically, if he stacks a couple of 6/7 win seasons early on, he'll have a contract through the early 2030's.

Lots of other bonuses in there for CoY awards and CFP appearances, but the bowl clause really stood out to me.

(12-14-2023 07:47 AM)JMU2004 Wrote:  The most interesting clause to me was the bowl part. $250k added to his contract AND an extra year to his contract for ANY bowl made. Also gets $200k bonus for the bowl, and another $50k for winning.

Basically, if he stacks a couple of 6/7 win seasons early on, he'll have a contract through the early 2030's.

Lots of other bonuses in there for CoY awards and CFP appearances, but the bowl clause really stood out to me.

Basically the same clause that had MTSU's coach stick around forever. Get to 6 wins, get another year on the contract

I mean, isn't that all Indiana and MSU can hope for in the Big10 any more? 6-7 win seasons and a Bowl Game? They need to get their basketball programs back on track.

(12-14-2023 07:47 AM)JMU2004 Wrote:  The most interesting clause to me was the bowl part. $250k added to his contract AND an extra year to his contract for ANY bowl made. Also gets $200k bonus for the bowl, and another $50k for winning.

Basically, if he stacks a couple of 6/7 win seasons early on, he'll have a contract through the early 2030's.

Lots of other bonuses in there for CoY awards and CFP appearances, but the bowl clause really stood out to me.

In comparison here's the reported JMU bonuses:

Retention bonus $100000+
NY6 bowl $100000
Bowl $25000
Bowl win $10000
SBC CG $25000
SBC CG win $40000
Final CFP Top 25 $25000
UVA win $15000
P5 win $15000
8+ regular season wins $35000+

Hard to imagine how we can compete with the Major Leagues. Seems their advantages grow each year.

(12-14-2023 08:39 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Hard to imagine how we can compete with the Major Leagues. Seems their advantages grow each year.

I'm old enough to remember the warnings when conferences pivoted from ticket/donor $$$ to TV Deals. This was always the end game.

https://sportsenthusiasts.net/2023/07/08...n-they-go/

(12-14-2023 08:39 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Hard to imagine how we can compete with the Major Leagues. Seems their advantages grow each year.

Quote:According to data collected from federal tax records by USA TODAY, the Big Ten generated a total of $845.6 million in revenue, and each of the 11 members receiving a full distribution from the conference received $58.8 million from the conference.

Quote:According to 2021 tax filings, the Sun Belt distributed approximately $1.56 million to its members. The conference has since expanded to 14 teams with the addition of JMU, Old Dominion, Marshall and Southern Miss, subsequently renegotiating and extending a media rights deal with ESPN that is expected to up the conference distribution to more than $2 million per school depending on other factors such as postseason success.

And sadly we don't yet receive a full share, so we're not even in the same ballpark.

Quote:JMU will receive $600,000 from the conference until 2023-24, $1.5 million annually for the next three academic years starting in 2024, then $2.5 million for the last two years each of the transition.

(12-14-2023 08:51 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(12-14-2023 08:39 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Hard to imagine how we can compete with the Major Leagues. Seems their advantages grow each year.

Quote:According to data collected from federal tax records by USA TODAY, the Big Ten generated a total of $845.6 million in revenue, and each of the 11 members receiving a full distribution from the conference received $58.8 million from the conference.

Quote:According to 2021 tax filings, the Sun Belt distributed approximately $1.56 million to its members. The conference has since expanded to 14 teams with the addition of JMU, Old Dominion, Marshall and Southern Miss, subsequently renegotiating and extending a media rights deal with ESPN that is expected to up the conference distribution to more than $2 million per school depending on other factors such as postseason success.

And sadly we don't yet receive a full share, so we're not even in the same ballpark.

Quote:JMU will receive $600,000 from the conference until 2023-24, $1.5 million annually for the next three academic years starting in 2024, then $2.5 million for the last two years each of the transition.

On the flip side - not only was Cig one of the cheapest pays in the SB, we also picked up over a million when he left. We almost got Cig for free the last two years.

I truly hope that the buyouts for BC makes us say "that's propisterous!"...just part of the big boy game - clearly at this point they will pay anything to nab a great (or even just "good") G5 coach

(12-14-2023 08:59 AM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  I truly hope that the buyouts for BC makes us say "that's propisterous!"...just part of the big boy game - clearly at this point they will pay anything to nab a great (or even just "good") G5 coach

At this point, it should be a huge buyout. We lost our last three coaches to other programs throwing more money. It would be foolish to not have a huge buyout at this point.
Most likely BC will get poached just like the last three. Makes sense that we can use a buyout to be able to pay the next guy.

As an alumni/fan base, we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to increasing donations. If we continue to see success like we have seen, more and more people will donate. The good news is that we are seeing a difference in that regard.
BC is seems to be embracing playing a role in getting others to step up.

preposterous - what a mangled spelling

We had Cig for 5 years (2 in FBS), will be thrilled if we can keep Chesney for 5. Believe Troy's coach just jumped to Tulane after 2 years.

Louisiana kept Napier for 4 years before he jumped to Florida, in part by giving him a large raise to $2m. Not sure any current SBC coaches at that level, though it was rumored Sumrall was offered that to stay.

SBC champion level coaches are P4 targets.

Ultimately with enough success, someone will throw crazy money at a coach, need to be able to reload with a new coach. Will be a big part of the new AD's job.

(12-14-2023 10:20 AM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  preposterous - what a mangled spelling

lolol...you know he died?? so sad, what a great character