If you are not familiar with Curt Cignetti, Google him. All he does is win.
The 63-year-old first-year head football coach at the University of Indiana already made a fortune in bonus money while leading the Hoosiers to their best start in program history.
Curt Cignetti, hired after four years at James Madison, landed in Bloomington with a bang. Some of his first words to students included a vicious jab at Purdue, Michigan and Ohio State. The crowd went bonkers.
Ever since that day, Indiana football has been on a meteoric rise. Cignetti recruited ~25 of the best Group of Five transfers in the country and put together a roster that is in position to compete for a Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff at 8-0.
"Google me"
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 26, 2024
Curt Cignetti's confidence is unmatched 😤
(via @JenLada) pic.twitter.com/jVBi5MCyfY
The Hoosiers had only seven winnings seasons from 1990 to 2023 and just two since 2000— including the weird 2020 season during the pandemic. So really just one true winning season since 2000.
Cignetti already matched the eight-win total from 2019. One more win this season will mark the most wins in program history in more than 50 years. Indiana won nine games in 1967 and 1945. It has never won 10 games. Not even once!
Anyone who watched Cignetti at JMU, Elon or IUP knew it was a good hire. Very few people would’ve expected an 8-0 start for a team predicted to finish second-to-last in the Big Ten.
Curt Cignetti is hitting incentive bonuses!
Cignetti agreed to a six-year contract with the Hoosiers. He will earn a salary of $3.5 million in Year 1. That number will increase by $100,000 per year over the length of his deal. The contract also includes an annual retention bonus of $250,000.
Other bonuses are based on performance and Cignetti is racking them up!
Indiana won its sixth game of the season at Northwestern. Six wins made the Hoosiers bowl eligible for the first time since 2020.
Cignetti’s contract states that every bowl appearance will prompt an automatic one-year extension. It also triggers a $250,000 increase to his annual payments in succeeding years and a $500,000 increase to the assistant coaching salary pool.
Cignetti also received a $100,000 bonus for five conference wins. That number will jump up to $150,000 if he wins a sixth.
Indiana currently sits atop the Big Ten standings. Should things stay as they are, Cignetti will earn a $250,000 bonus for a top-six conference finish, a $500,000 bonus for a second-place finish or a $1,000,000 bonus for a Big Ten Championship. Only one will apply but even the lowest amount is still a good chunk of change.
There is also the possibility of the Playoff. Should the Hoosiers make the field of 12, Cignetti will receive $500,000. Every additional win adds to that total.
- Quarterfinals: $600,00
- Semifinals: $700,000
- National runner-up: $1,000,000
- National champion: $2,000,000
This bonus is also not cumulative. Only the highest finish will apply.
And then there’s coaching awards.
Cignetti will receive a bonus of $100,000 if he is named as the national coach of the year. That applies to the following awards: Associated Press, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Sporting News, Walter Camp, Maxwell Football Club or ABC/ESPN. All he needs is one.
If Cignetti wins Big Ten Coach of the Year, he will receive a bonus of $50,000. That seems inevitable.
All of this goes to say that Curt Cignetti can make a lot of extra money over the next two (or three) months. The more Indiana wins, the more money he will make!