Indiana football has long lived in the shadow of its basketball legacy - a program that, for decades, felt more like a side project than a serious contender in the Big Ten. But that narrative has been flipped on its head, and the numbers - and the national title - back it up.
Let’s start with the money. Since 2021, Indiana has steadily ramped up its football spending, climbing from $23.9 million to a staggering $61.6 million by 2024.
For the first time in nearly two decades, IU outpaced the Big Ten median in football expenditures. That’s not just a budget bump - that’s a program-wide shift in priorities.
So, what changed in 2021?
That’s when Indiana welcomed a new university president, Pam Whitten, who brought with her a Southern football sensibility and a clear-eyed vision for what IU football could become. She didn’t arrive alone, either - she joined forces with athletic director Scott Dolson, who’d taken the reins a year earlier. Together, they laid the groundwork that would eventually attract Curt Cignetti, the coach who would lead the Hoosiers to a national championship just two years into his tenure.
That title run didn’t come out of nowhere. It was years in the making - and it started at the top.
Cignetti, who’s built a reputation as a winner at every stop, has been quick to credit the support system around him. He’s said it plainly: he needed at least “average” resources to succeed in Bloomington, a baseline that hadn’t been met by previous regimes. But this time, the school delivered - and then some.
Indiana has gone full throttle on football. Cignetti and his staff have been rewarded with multiple new contracts, and they now rank among the highest-paid coaching groups in the sport. That’s a clear signal of commitment, not just to winning, but to sustaining success.
And it’s not just about salaries. IU has leaned into the NIL era with purpose. An in-house collective, strong donor involvement, and the backing of high-profile alumni like billionaire Mark Cuban and Cook Group president Pete Yonkman have all helped fuel the program’s rise.
But Cignetti was quick to remind everyone after the Hoosiers’ 27-21 win over Miami in the title game: this wasn’t just about money.
“I would like to say our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is, so you can throw that out,” he said, making it clear that culture, leadership, and planning played just as big a role as any financial boost.
Still, there’s no denying that the financial freedom IU enjoys now wasn’t always there. Before Whitten and Dolson took the reins, the athletic department simply didn’t have the green light to invest in football at this level. That changed when Whitten stepped in and made it clear that football couldn’t be treated like an afterthought anymore.
“You’ve got to rewind it,” she said during a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “This actually started five years ago when I came to Indiana and met with our amazing athletic director.
“We sat down and I said, ‘Hey, Scott, college football is about 75 to 85% of revenue in college sports.’ I think my exact words were ‘We can’t treat it like an intramural sport anymore.’”
From there, the blueprint came together. Infrastructure was built.
Staff was modernized. Fundraising efforts took off.
And when the time was right, they went out and got their guy - a coach they believed could turn Indiana into a legitimate football powerhouse.
And he did.
Now, with a national championship in hand, the impact of that shift is undeniable. Applications are up.
Revenue is flowing. And perhaps most importantly, the student body is fully bought in.
When IU students packed Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to watch the title game and later poured into Kirkwood Avenue to celebrate, it wasn’t just about a football win - it was about school pride on a level Indiana hadn’t experienced in this sport.
“These kids, they are the best and this is for them,” Whitten said. “We want their college experience to be amazing.
And you know what? When you have a superstar football team, your experience is amazing as a college student.”
That’s what this run has been about - not just trophies, but transformation. Indiana football isn’t an afterthought anymore.
It’s a centerpiece. And it all started when the university decided to stop playing catch-up and start playing to win.