Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
Curt Cignetti achieved yet another wild accomplishment this week as the head coach at Indiana. Not only is he 27-2 as the Hoosiers head coach, but as of Friday, he also has more raises than he does years on the job in Bloomington.
That’s thanks in part to his third, and most recent, raise that increased his annual salary to $13.2 million. Cignetti signed a contract extension in October before going on a historic playoff run and becoming the first 16 win college football team in over 100 years. It was a smart move from Indiana considering last year’s coaching cycle was a historic one with over 30 jobs opening in the offseason.
The extension comes just two years into the job and four months after his previous extension granted him an annual salary of $11.6 million. That’s a raise of nearly 14 percent in just a few short months, and further illustrates the continued growth of coaches salaries over the last four years.
In 2022 the highest paid coach in college football was Nick Saban at just under $11 million. There were only three coaches in the entire country that were making over $10 million. Just three years later in 2025, there were ten coaches over the $10 million threshold. That doesn’t even include Cignetti who went into last season making $8.3 million, nearly $5 million less than he’ll make in 2026.
NEWS: Curt Cignetti and Indiana have agreed to a new contract, averaging $13.2M per year, @indystar reports🤑
Cignetti’s contract still runs through 2033. https://t.co/uGFUHLRRhw pic.twitter.com/X06ry4gk7d
— On3 (@On3) February 20, 2026
It also places Cignetti firmly in the top two of coaching salaries in the sport and in the same air as the other three highest paid coaches in America – Kirby Smart, Ryan Day and Lane Kiffin.
All four are elite head coaches, however one of the four has a noticeably different resumé and trophy case. Kiffin is the only one without a national title. He’s also the only one without a single win in the College Football Playoff.
That of course would most likely not be the case had he stayed in Oxford last postseason. Still, the expectation from LSU after stroking a check for $13 million per year to Kiffin is that there will be a return on that investment just like Indiana, Georgia and Ohio State have had in the last four years.
The patience for how long it takes for that to happen will be interesting to watch. Like logic, reason and any remote semblance of guardrails, patience has disappeared from college football for the most part.
Kirby Smart and Ryan Day didn’t win a national championship until year six and seven as head coaches, respectively. Both coaches did manage to make it to the national title by year three, though.
Those will certainly be the expectations set for Kiffin.
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