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Hope @Lebowski doesn't mind too much if I interrupt his football posting frenzy and slip a little something in about a bball commit. lol https://x.com/i/status/1970209707228065818

With MANY MANY thanks to @Lebowski, it seems as though we can summarize the current state of IU football recruiting as "no longer competing with MAC teams for players." The dude abides, and so does IU Football recruiting.

If Manette Cignetti is happy, Curt is staying through retirement.

The Dude abides. I wasn't aware there was a basketball section on this thing. ;-)

I can’t imagine a commitment from a 2027 being worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin getting it on at this point, whoever that commitment goes to. Keep Haines around (he and Brewster’s dad roomed together at Ball State back in the day) and see what happens next year.

He was at the Illinois game -- his second visit to IU this year. Grew up in Indy even though he's in Texas now. The day after the Illinois game he announced he is committing October 4th. I have no insider knowledge. We are recruiting against the biggest/wealthiest programs here... but... we'll see.

I love our coach. I am all in on DDV. He's gonna do great here. Excited to have Chase on board!

IU has the second largest alumni association and a butt-load of money to throw around. This financial windfall allows schools like us to jump the queue into relevancy. This isn’t a fluke. As long as we keep the locker room culture going and IU remains interested in being competitive then there’s no reason we can’t be ~top 6 in the conference on a near annual basis. The Big Ten should get four teams into the CFP most years. There’s no need to go to Florida or Auburn to be in the playoff conversation for Cig. Just like how it’s become harder for IU or Kentucky basketball to pull good coaches who don’t need us to win championships, the same can be said for most SEC programs going forward. The playing field is much more even, and they don’t seem to quite understand this yet.

I have feeling Bill Self may be next

Was SO PUMPED to receive the 247 commitment text while sitting in Memorial Stadium while the game was being delayed due to ND/Purdue delay on NBC. Certainly made the delay more bearable and as we know, our performance on the gridiron was worth the wait - GREAt day/evening/night in Bloomington!!!!!!!

Some of my guesses, I have no insider knowledge: 1. At his age, probably no? CFB lifer. 2. Not sure, but I'd say yes on matching whatever someone else might pay him. Frankly it's hard to pay him much more. He's at $9M/yr plus bonuses after his raise last year, which is nearly top-10, and his staff is almost a blank check and definitely top-10, maybe top-5. The staff all got raises, with Haines getting three total and Owings getting two total due to big program interest. We've done all we can to keep his staff together. Amazing job from Scott, Pam, and others. I'm more worried about NIL. Our total player payroll is around $22-23M and the big boys are $35-$40M+. Our roster is mostly 3*'s. Recruiting has picked up, but it's still 3* heavy. While he gets more than I thought possible from these guys, if he feels he can't afford the athletes/raw talent he needs to beat top-10 teams, that's an issue. If we can keep increasing our player payroll $5M or more per year until we're 75-80% of the big boy programs, he will feel the building momentum and have more of a ceiling to operate in. Tough job for Scott but this should be his top priority. We of course want to keep upgrading facilities, though really our facilities are "okay" and likely not a deal breaker. 3. Not sure. He is older, his wife likes Bloomington, and changing to a mega program job, while it would bring more resources/CFB culture, also brings risks. Right now he is big man on campus with autonomy and he has a great relationship with Scott and Pam. This is his chance to be the all-time legacy guy of a program where he leaves and everything is named after him. That won't happen anywhere else. Go somewhere else and there could be a whole world of politics to deal with (sort of like our bball program), job risk (though he's a confident guy), and a need to recruit a different player/part of the country, which he has not done before. Is that really the best fit for him? I don't know what he thinks. And that last part may help us on the other side too. Larger programs see a great coach, but he's older and has never recruited 5*'s in their neck of the woods. I'm sure they're interested, but he isn't a no-brainer ideal fit for somewhere like Florida. The main school that worries me is somewhere like Penn State if Franklin screws up and they lose faith in him and Cig does something like win one of the games at Oregon or PSU this year. But it's way too early to worry about that. 4. Yes! Right now, football needs to be the #1 focus for the athletic dept. It makes the most money and this is our window to change everything about the program for years to come. 5. Great conclusion. What is happening right now is unbelievable and extremely fun.

Purdue Football has now gone two straight games without forcing a single punt.

I've seen enough. I'm ready for a Cig statue outside the stadium

As you said, football is cool at IU now, and last night was kind of fun. Also, I think after the Woodson years, some of us have forgotten how to react to a high school commitment. I hope he doesn't reclassify, unless he's a freak of nature who could make an immediate impact. The end of the Crean era and the Archie years, it felt like we were always hoping kids would reclassify because we needed them so badly due to our many underperforming players and failing coaches. I'd rather get back to being able to wait on recruits because we're fine with what we have.

We're going to the playoffs again IMO

My last post on this game. Dave Revsine in the BTN studio saying: “Bret Beilema… assumes the position.” lmao ScreenRecording_09-21-2025 15-54-17_1.mov

Cig clearly did not. He began pulling starters at the end of the third quarter and didn't throw a pass in the fourth quarter. Illinois was mentally and physically broken in the second half. Cig could have named the score.

Top 40 Edge out of Indianapolis, IN 247 On3

Pretty good recap of the Illinois game by Fox Sports:

Yea, our B1G media revenue is nice and a leg up we have on non-B1G/SEC teams like Texas Tech. Agree you never know how long the mega-sugar daddies will keep up the huge donations. Even for a billionaire that's a lot of money out the door each year with no monetary return. And lastly, I think you're spot on that the NIL/rev share-era has really helped schools like us get on a more level playing field. Pre-NIL, especially with IU not really paying under the table, we had no shot in recruiting battles with larger programs. Even last year our football NIL was ~20% of the biggest programs. Now with the rev share kicking in this year we're ~60% of the big programs player payroll. That is a huge shift is competitiveness. Now we can land guys like Fernando even with schools like Georgia and Miami in the mix. Or Coogan from ND. And our high school recruiting is picking up. Exciting times.

Open Alabama Senate seat that Tuberville is vacating.

Retiring effective immediately, his son is the new HC for this season. wow.

Bruce Pearl is retiring

After the Kayser tweet I saw this one from Dushawn London Jason Gardner Jr., the No. 26 overall prospect in the class of 2027, has locked in multiple fall unofficial visits. Gardner is also in the process of setting dates with Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Louisville.

Was about 10ft from Henry at one point. Very excited to have him.

So I’ve been doing some thinking. We want Illinois to beat USC. USC to beat Michigan Notre Dame to beat USC Ohio State beats Michigan Ohio State to beat Penn State Oregon to beat Penn State Then we beat Oregon. Then we get a crack at OSU at Lucas Oil

Hope all is well! Haven´t posted in awhile....life Love this pickup, especially for CDD without even coaching a game here yet...sold his system....love it If CDD was here last year, Mullins would be here IMO (dead horse, I know) Football is better than last year, and looks to maintain that High school hoops around the corner, can´t wait!

I just finished watching the game. That was a more dominating performance than any game last season

Wow—that’s a hot post! That’s the number eight overall player and the number one defensive lineman in his class. And he’s about to pop for Indiana it would seem. So excellent

This would mean that Scott Dolson knows what the heck he’s doing, has a plan, has a ‘type’ of coach that he wants, and now has been given license to hire AND pay to retain as he sees fit. Cig, Moren, Yeagley, and now Devries. I think that is absolutely true, and I am also optimistic.

Pull that trigger Ethan Taylor

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM BTB

Totally fair, but we do have a steady stream of big money coming in from TV deals. Plus, how many cycles will Texas Tech and aTm pony up big money? It’s one thing to make a $50 mil splash like Tech did this year, but will they continue to do this year in and year out? The other big thing is the transfer portal and no one wanting to sit anymore. Top programs can no longer hoard talent. Schools like IU are cleaning up on disgruntled P4 backups, and we also are situated nicely to grab top G5/FCS players who the bigger programs may not give much attention to (too big of a leap going from JMU to Alabama, for example).

Once you get the alumni convinced that the way back to basketball relevancy is by making the football program a winner, they'll be willing to keep Cignetti around. We need the revenue more than ever since football is the top money maker and if we can sustain this, it will be a lot easier to get IU basketball back to blue blood status. It's just very hard to comprehend because all throughout our history, Indiana was a basketball school and you just put up with the football team until Hoosier Hysteria. But times have changed.

Rumor was he was going to retire and run for something political earlier this year.

If you build it, they will come

WR out of Louisville, KY 247 On3 ESPN

He's recruiting for the coaches!!! Love it.

Yup. Imagine that’s the one person who without even looking up from her iPad can just say, “No, Dear.”

Update here: the Indiana Ave parking lot was more than fine. Nice and shaded, easy in and out, plenty room to tailgate. Decent little crowd and fun with folks walking to/from bars on Indiana Ave. Doesn't compare to the grass lots or lots closer to the stadium, but I would totally purchase a pass in that lot again! cc: @eddy4iu

I’d love to see IU get to host a CFP game this year.

Van Pelt stepping right up to the line of putting IU in the B1G top tier.

What @Hovadipo said. '26 verbal commitments in football aren't something you really want to bet your house on. Haven't been for a long time and probably less reliable in today's NIL world. A '27 verbal?!?!?!?!?

Neveah mentioned as being ahead of the curve as well. Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners

I think that the other two 100% 30+ minute per game players are Beaumont and Socka

It will be hysterically funny if in a division with 2 #1 overall and a #3 overall QB the best QB in the division turns out to be the guy everyone in the world thought was terrible.