@big-ryan I don’t think so. We had a favorable schedule at home. No Oregon. No usc. No PSU. Played Washington in Bloomington. Michigan finished 7th in the league. We played two top tier teams and weren’t really competitive
there was a massive jump in quality with the Mendoza team and that’s $$$
@big-ryan I just don’t believe it. I think he would be great. Don’t get me wrong. But not top tier. We always see one or two very good G5 schools that are competitive at the p4 level. He had mature kids at jmu and was one of those teams. He brought them over and was very good. But got blasted by osu and lost to nd and wasn’t really close.
buying Mendoza etc got us to the top tier You can win with a great core group in any sport But to be top tier you need elite talent and I don’t think we can coach enough up to compete year in with nd ga bama Oregon etc much less have depth. With money we can Wagner and cook floated a boatload of cash on that roster
The knock on Indiana in 2024 is that they never really played anyone. They were fortunate to get some tough teams at home, but take away OSU and Notre Dame and their opponents' cumulative record wasn't the greatest. That team was still really, really good, but nowhere near as good as their 2025 team turned out to be. The stars aligned for Cignetti that first year, but he still had to go out and coach them to wins.
For reference, here are their opponents from that year and their records:
- FIU Panthers: 4–8
- Western Illinois Leathernecks: 3–9
- UCLA Bruins: 4–8
- Charlotte 49ers: 3–9
- Maryland Terrapins: 4–8
- Northwestern Wildcats: 4–8
- Nebraska Cornhuskers: 7–6
- Washington Huskies: 6–7
- Michigan State Spartans: 5–7
- Michigan Wolverines: 8–5
- Ohio State Buckeyes: 12–2
- Purdue Boilermakers: 1–11
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (CFP): 11–2
@ohio-guy he couldn’t cheat at MSU. At Bama it was just handled for him.
Exactly. He's a good coach, but without the ability to buy players, he would have just remained a good coach instead of turning out to be one of the best ever.
This is sort of making my whole point in this thread. Indiana can now afford to pay players more than a place like Alabama can. That's going to bode extremely well for Cignetti's legacy.
@ohio-guy ha i literally just posted the same thing. exactly!!
cig is amazing. no doubt. but you aren't coaching up 2 and 3 star kids and beating usc, oregon, ohio state, penn state, michigan, and then the playoffs. they a very favorable 2024 schedule. money made the difference to bump us up the next year.
and if you couldn't pay players cig would have a solid tier two big ten program but not elite. i've been to games at bama, georgia, clemson, ohio state and there's no way a bunch of 4 and 5 stars are going to recruiting saturdays there and then coming to iu and saying yes iu.
I’m not sure one can make generalizations when certain individuals have a profound impact on history.
Herman B Wells had an astonishing and lasting impact on creating Indiana University at Bloomington as it now is. From the beautiful campus to the Tradition in the arts and the high-quality professors.
Myles Brand by contrast did more to ruin this than all other IU presidents combined. Firing Bobby Knight was the least of what I’m talking about. Most people are unaware of how he drove off many of the highest quality professors at IUB.
I personally never had any problem with Allen’s Love Each Other mantra.
The poster who went completely over the edge about it was Ordfan/Kern Co who was so far gone he began posting regularly about Allen over on the rivals p u site… Really nasty, vile stuff… The joker is back over here now pretending to be a INDIANA fan (after spending an entire year posting garbage about our coach and our TEAM on the purdue site [certifiable])…
My personal issue with Allen (at the end) was his seemingly forgetting how to coach tackling. To have a guy who’s made a living as a defensive wizard have that particular oversight is/was inexcusable.
There were/are plenty of other teams that echo the Love Each Other line, even “the” O-h-I-o $tate’s HC started saying it (right after we nearly beat him at his place (under Allen)…
In addition to what you’re saying, every other university was taking ng advantage of the same NIL and transport portal rules that Cig did. Miami was stacked with 5-stars.
Without NIL and transfer portal Cig might not have gotten Mendoza but Mendoza chose to come to Indiana University Cignetti.
The overriding factor leading IU to the NC was not NIL and transfer portal but the coaching and leadership.
iu is with the elite in money. and therefore can be competitive with same and beat same with superior coaching and selection. without the money they would not finish among the elite.
They don't publish actual numbers (I think they should) but there are a lot of estimates for NIL spending in football and IU is estimated to be 7th in the B1G this year and 27th in the nation. In 2025 IU wasn't spending as much and Cig says it was a little over $15 million. I'd bet every team IU beat in the CFP spent much more considering they had 5 stars and 4 stars and I think IU had 1 four star. Fernando says he was offered more elsewhere and chose IU because of Cig and his brother's big improvement as a QB under Cig.
IU isn't winning because it's outspending the big-time football programs. It's because of Cig's talent evaluation and the players wanting to play for Cig and a proven winning system.
College Football Roster Spending & Team Pages 2026 - Every P4 Budget | StickToTheModel
There’s no denying IU’s $13.2M put them in the game. As Phil Jackson said after Reggie pushed of Jordan to get open for the buzzer beater, “He still had to make the shot.”iu is with the elite in money. and therefore can be competitive with same and beat same with superior coaching and selection. without the money they would not finish among the elite.
IU beat OSU’s $20.2. Interesting is that Miami isn’t in the top 25 and yet they still had bad-ass pash rushers. IU also has to out-compete warm weather and big cities to attract recruits.
Cig can offer the money, recruits still have to choose IU over more attractive options.
estimates but estimated iu is spending with the elite schools. we have big bucks donors in wagner cook. largest alumni base. it's a game changer
estimates but estimated iu is spending with the elite schools. we have big bucks donors in wagner cook. largest alumni base. it's a game changer
They're all estimates. I think we should KNOW, not speculate. Cig claims we spend less than what they estimate.
I googled "estimated football NIL spending by school" and AI doesn't have us in the top 10. Clicking on the links, the estimates are all over the map. So I'd guess it's pretty much 100 percent IU is between 10 and 30, but exactly where is uncertain for sure. We have a ton of rich grads so combined with Cig's winning formula, we've got ourselves a contender.
@aloha-hoosier we just paid $4 mil for a qb. will be one of the ten highest paid players in the country.
again. none of this is a knock on cig. nor was it a knock that he had old players. it's all too his credit. garner the resources and maximize the use of same. it's just that he isn't seeing this kind of results at wake. hell same with vandy. vandy isn't getting pavia without a couple mil. you can be competitive but money is the dispositive factor in becoming elite.
estimates but estimated iu is spending with the elite schools. we have big bucks donors in wagner cook. largest alumni base. it's a game changer
We have a ton of rich grads so combined with Cig's winning formula, we've got ourselves a contender.
I appreciate you going out on a limb and labeling us a contender. I feel the same way, but didn’t have the balls to say it.
They don't publish actual numbers (I think they should) but there are a lot of estimates for NIL spending in football and IU is estimated to be 7th in the B1G this year and 27th in the nation. In 2025 IU wasn't spending as much and Cig says it was a little over $15 million. I'd bet every team IU beat in the CFP spent much more considering they had 5 stars and 4 stars and I think IU had 1 four star. Fernando says he was offered more elsewhere and chose IU because of Cig and his brother's big improvement as a QB under Cig.
IU isn't winning because it's outspending the big-time football programs. It's because of Cig's talent evaluation and the players wanting to play for Cig and a proven winning system.
College Football Roster Spending & Team Pages 2026 - Every P4 Budget | StickToTheModel
@aloha-hoosier Spot on.