Famous IU alumnus and billionaire Mark Cuban made headlines last week when it was reported he had made a second sizable contribution to IU Athletics in as many years.
The 1981 Indiana business school graduate made his initial fortune by developing technology that made it possible to stream radio broadcasts over the internet. The inspiration for that? He wanted a better way to listen to Don Fischer’s call of IU basketball games than having his friends in Indiana put a radio next to a speakerphone for two hours.
Cuban probably never dreamed a portion of his fortune would be spent on supporting IU football, a program that was by-and-large a laughing stock since he became a Hoosier at age 18.
But the Pittsburgh native made his first-ever major contribution to IU Athletics a year ago, and a report came out last week he has made an even larger contribution this year.
Cuban was as the Peach Bowl in Atlanta to watch IU’s dominant 56-22 win over Oregon. He spoke to multiple media outlets on the field and outside the stadium Friday.
What made Cuban want to double-down on his fellow Pittsburgh native Curt Cignetti and the football program?
“They earned it,” Cuban told
the Sideline Stories podcast with Tricia Whitaker and Sydney Parrish. “The first time it was like, okay, let’s see what happens. Second time was, okay, now we know it works. And so I talked to them about what what their strategy was, and the previous year it all made sense and I wanted to be part of it.”
Where does all the money from Cuban go?
Part of the IU turnaround story under Cignetti is his ability to rebuild the program rapidly via experienced players from the transfer portal. And in this era of college football, building a roster of veteran players via the transfer portal is expensive. It’s a process not unlike acquiring free agents in the professional ranks, something Cuban knows a lot about as the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
In a separate interview Cuban talked specifics about the transfer portal recruiting strategy he sees from Cignetti that resonates with him.
“A lot of people can give money to chase the biggest names, and I learned that in the NBA, right,” Cuban told WTHR. “A name comes up and everybody wants to win the summer.
“Everybody wants to win the portal, but that’s not putting together a team, and I think that’s what Coach (Cignetti) and Scott (Dolson) have done better than any other school where they understand the roles that are needed for Coach and what needs to happen on his team, and they get players that, you know, like he says, ‘I want production, not potential.’ And to do that and be disciplined, that’s how you stay relevant and stay current and keep on winning because you’ve got to know how to put together a team and I think that’s where they really excel.”
While these football/athletics contributions have been his largest, Cuban has given to other IU-related causes. He donated $5 million to create a first-of-its-kind, cutting-edge, student-focused video, broadcasting and technology center in 2015. The Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media Technology is housed within the home of IU basketball at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
In October he gave $6 million to help fund the IU rugby club.
“Whatever I give to IU, it will only be a fraction of what Indiana University gave to me,” Cuban said at the time of his technology center gift.
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