IU football head coach Curt Cignetti has agreed to a contract extension worth $8 million per year over eight years with a $1 million retention bonus.
Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti this past weekend agreed to a new contract extension worth $8 million per year over eight years with a $1 million retention bonus. The extension keeps Cignetti at Indiana through the 2032 season, and makes him the highest-paid IU coach and IU employee ever.
On Monday afternoon, Cignetti commented on his contract extension and provided insight into the timeline of it all. Cignetti said he began having discussions about a new contract several weeks ago and ultimately decided that staying at Indiana was the best decision for him.
“This is where I wanted to be,” Cignetti said in a press conference. “I played the ‘what if?’ game with my wife and my agent three weeks ago, four weeks ago, and it all pointed to where I’m at right now.”
Though the full details of Cignetti’s contract have not yet been released, Indiana reportedly made additional commitments to enhance the football program beyond just Cignetti’s contract extension. The exact nature of those commitments are to be announced in the future.
“The University’s made a very significant financial commitment to football in a lot of areas,” Cignetti said. “And I’m appreciative of the opportunity to lead the program and continue to develop the program moving forward. I’m excited about future, we’ve done a lot of good things, got a lot of people behind us.”
In IU’s first season under Cignetti, the Hoosiers are one of only three undefeated FBS teams remaining at 10-0 and have set a new program single-season wins record. Indiana is ranked No. 5 in the latest College Football Playoff ranking and still in contention for a Big Ten Championship game appearance.
With Cignetti’s contract extension now finalized, he said he’s relieved to put all of those questions behind him and focus fully on the remainder of this season, which includes arguably Indiana’s most important game in program history this Saturday.
“I’m glad we have that behind us,” Cignetti said, “and now we can focus on what we should be focused on this time of year.”
IU will travel to No. 2 Ohio State at noon ET on Saturday afternoon for a top-five road matchup against the Buckeyes. The game will be televised on FOX with top commentary crew, Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft, on the call. Multiple marquee national pregame shows will televise live from Columbus ahead of the game, including ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’, FOX’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’, and Big Ten Network’s ‘B1G Tailgate’.
