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Yea, that seems to be true -- one really rich person could seriously fund FB/MBBs programs. Though if a school doesn't currently have big boosters, it seems like it's pretty tough to find/convert them. If a school's handful of super rich alumni aren't interested in donating to NIL, it appears tough to get them involved. And very few billionaires even if they're boosters will act as aggressively as Cody Campbell or Phil Knight. An example is how long it took us to get Cuban on board, though my understanding is our athletic dept shot themselves in the foot several times with him. Hard to believe, huh? A place like Miss St... they could, but man it would be hard. They're 20% of our alumni base and generate small levels of athletic dept revenue. They would need their one big donor to go wild. It would be tough for a place like Purdue too, who just doesn't have a big boosters, which has been evident as they've struggled to get Matt much money despite his pretty darn good results. If a MBB coach was winning B1G titles and making FF's at IU, they would have $5M more than what Matt gets, easily. Fortunately, IU has a lot of fundraising potential. Our large alumni base is cited often, and they help a lot, but the real key in my opinion is the Cook family. We're fortunate to have a very active billionaire booster like them, and they've been going wild with their efforts since Cig got here. Then we have another active billionaire booster in Simon, and now Cubes. Three billionaires. Plus another tier of very rich and active boosters like Pfau. And Scott with his Varsity club background was the perfect guy to get them all as engaged as possible in this new NIL world. I'd agree a lot of schools could level up athletics support pretty quickly, I just think IU was a place that was pretty uniquely positioned to do it. And honestly there are schools we'll never match, but we're close enough now. Now, if a school actually wants to do what IU did, you need a Cig. To my knowledge, there is only one (1) Cig. No Cig, no natty. Vanderbilt-like results is probably a more realistic goal. I guess to tie this back to this thread, if CDD can finish strong this season hopefully he can get our boosters believing and get more money for his roster.

I’d guess that’s right, though I am a square that’s for sure. Even if we screw up one of our three easier home games an MSU or OSU win can cover that up. Or even a BTT run I suppose. Several combos can work and that probably pushes up the odds to get in.

FWIW prediction (betting) markets have us at a ~85% chance to make it. Feels high, but that’s what it is. That sort of signals 10-10 is probably enough. Though of course getting in with ease should be the goal. Long way to go.

I get your point, but I’d argue the program controls the vibes (and the revenue) via the results. A fanbase can “want it” badly and have high expectations, but it just doesn’t matter much, because the actions of the program (hiring, recruiting, coaching) are going to vastly outweigh whatever the fans do or want. And not all fans are equal, we’ve got probably about 10 to 20 donors who materially impact our athletic dept revenue. But, I’m still happy doing my part of going to games and donating what I know is a de minimis amount. That’s all I can do and I enjoy it, so it’s all good.

I’ve got some pro teams I cheer for, but I only really care about IU sports. Plus I prefer college sports with the tribalism/passion and varying cultures and traditions across the programs. I don’t feel the connection as much to pro sports, which I find much more homogenous and less interesting. Anyways: 1. IUFB ‘25 -- A gap the size of 1,000 Grand Canyons -- 2. Colts ‘07 SB

Reading this thread, it's worth noting no one on this board has any influence over IUBB. Perhaps this will come off as harsh, but posters' expectations/standards (high or low) and feelings (good or bad) do not have any real world impact on IUBB. Unless someone is a serious booster, IUBB and IU athletics is basically take or leave it. There are only two options: (1) watch, and enjoy or be frustrated, or (2) don't watch. There is no option (3) where a message board poster sets the standard. This place is purely for fan entertainment. Discussing and debating is fun, as sharing in the experience of success and failure. But this place has zilch real world influence. So, it makes sense to debate CDD, that's very interesting. But if someone is enjoying IU athletics because we dominated the college sport that by far matters the most (CFB is 4-5x larger than CBB) while our bball program is just "okay," I don't see why it's worth getting upset over that, because again, no one here has any influence over anything in real world IU athletics.

One thing I get a kick out of is how bad Illinois wants a rival and they can’t quite find one. NW? Kinda, but they’re not as into sports. The Mizzou bball one seems to have fizzled out. They poke at PU and IU a lot, but mostly get ignored. They want B1G attention and no one will give them what they want. Here is a poll from their fans:

Regardless of who inherited a worse situation and the realistic turnaround time for the era, there is something about that UConn program that produces serious results, even with several different coaches. Basically the opposite of IUBB since the late 90’s.

What tweaks would you make? Just curious.

I dunno, I think there is some value to making the tourney. It helps with the improvement narrative and removes something that needs explaining (we missed it because of XYZ excuses). That should make things easier with fans/donors in terms of NIL, and also selling recruits. I’m not saying making the tourney is a must and our future depends on it, just that it materially helps with the whole program building thing.

What about Mega SuperBet in Puerto Rico? An 81-80 barnburner! Perhaps the experience was more valuable than we could have imagined. (just kidding)

Yea. We live to fight another day, which is good. And double good we beat Wiscy, we owe them one and it's still not close to even. I don't feel much better about this team, but is what it is. On the sunshine pump side, is D-Rock an OT specialist? He had a good OT record prior to IU. Also, a nice crowd today. Our "toxic" fans were very good.

Despite him being out the line has moved from -4.5 to -3.5. I can help my IUBB PTSD — this feels like a classic IUBB letdown situation. Break the trend fellas! Looking at ticket demand we should have a good crowd today. Just go win by 10!

May as well I suppose.

Tyson officially announced. He looks like a S&C coach...

Another classic Fernando interview:

SIAP, there are some great pics here: https://experience.iu.edu/2025-cfp-national-championship?utm_medium=orsoc&utm_source_platform=iu-bloomington-x This one especially, wow.

Next time the state of Indiana loses one of these bets (hopefully with some non-IU team), I hope we send a box of these.

Confirming what many suspected. He’s not “solid” with TTU and we are recruiting him.

Wanna rep the B1G?! I think they’re gonna sell like 10 total lol. Funny shirt though.

We also shed the most losses record, Northwestern now has it, which is nice. That one was annoying. I’m sure there are some streaks out there that are interesting that we would like to break, but for me all the meaningful demons have been exorcised.

Good guess. Another data point is the Wisky DB (Xavier Lucas) Miami tampered with and got, of course sparking that still unresolved legal action. I’d bet the farm they tried to get Ponds. They’re a scummy bunch and it’s so satisfying to have beat them.

IUFB’s turnaround is giving other programs too much “hope” lol.

Here is an interview with Cig talking recruiting, our recent HS/portal class, and other miscellaneous stuff. Starts at 5:50 in. Nothing groundbreaking but a few interesting comments if you’re an IUFB sicko. Also here is a good write up. Notably TE is a bit of an unknown. https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-notes-cignetti-says-tight-end-is-biggest-question-mark-on-2026-offense-right-now/#google_vignette

One more for ‘26. OL. Pref walk-on. Local. Had some nice mid major offers.