IU football coach Curt Cignetti took a risk to become a head coach at age 50.
His last salary as an Alabama receivers coach in 2010 was $250,000. And his first salary as a head coach the next year in 2011 was $125,000, at the other Indiana University — in Pennsylvania.
Cignetti said last year he was reluctant to tell his Hall of Fame father Frank he was making that move.
“I did not tell him I was going to take the IUP job because I knew what he was going to say. I called him the night before and said, ‘I’m going to be announced tomorrow.’ I was 50. I bet on myself,” Cignetti said.
$125,000 is also roughly what Bill Mallory was making at IU Bloomington in the late 80s/early 90s. Cignetti’s predecessor Tom Allen got about $1.8 million per year on his first deal, and later got raises and made around $4.5 per year in 2023. Before Allen, Kevin Wilson topped out at $2.3 million, Bill Lynch $650,000 and Terry Hoeppner $600,000.
So in some respects, Cignetti’s increases have been in line with the larger market trends. But his salary has been on a meteoric rise since that career gamble in 2011.
Cignetti moved up to $425,000 in his first year at James Madison in 2022, and then $4.5 million under his original deal at IU. With his latest deal he is going to make around $11.6 million per year on average, along with potential bonuses.
To say the least — the bet paid off.
Now Cignetti is one of the highest-paid coaches anywhere in college football.
It’s not a full apples-to-apples comparison because these are 2025 salaries for the other coaches compared to Cignetti’s projected average under his new deal. But below gives you a sense for where he now stands in the pecking order nationally. He’s now one of 10 coaches making over $10 million per year:
|
Kirby Smart |
Georgia |
$13.282 million |
|
Ryan Day |
Ohio State |
$12.575 million |
|
Curt Cignetti |
Indiana |
$11.6 million |
|
Lincoln Riley |
USC |
$11.537 million |
|
Dabo Swinney |
Clemson |
$11.447 million |
|
Steve Sarkisian |
Texas |
$10.8 million |
|
Dan Lanning |
Oregon |
$10.4 million |
|
Kalen DeBoer |
Alabama |
$10.25 million |
|
Brian Kelly |
LSU |
$10.175 million |
|
Bill Belichick |
North Carolina |
$10.1 million |
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