Pagoda

Yep. I think it's going to be a positive that football is setting a high standard that basketball will be measured against. For once in IUBB's history they're not the biggest show in town and they will need to earn fan interest, attention, and resources much more than in past years. That means no excuses, winning, and getting better during the season and year over year.

Yea, it's got to be coming. Some guesses for fun: - Cig is at $9M/yr. Pump that up to $12.5-13.5M so he's going from just outside the top-10 to #1 or #2. Allocate another $2-3M to the staff pool so we can do all we can to keep key guys ( notably Haines and Kuntz) or hire their replacements if they take promotions. I am sure there are others who are very important. - Pump up the football NIL budget by $7-8M+, even if that means selling parts of campus. We've got a whole new universe of higher level talent interested in IU now that they have seen use make the playoff and do things like win at Oregon. But, these players are more expensive and we've got to pay their market rates. It will be hard to get intel on what's happening with NIL, but something like this is important behind the scenes. - Announce something with the stadium renovation. Exactly what I don't care, but it's time for suites and a new press box, a new PA/sound system, stuff like that. We've got that private equity money coming to help. Scott has been all over this. He identified Cig, convinced him to come here, exceed his first season NIL commitment (and probably second season), didn't wait on new staff contracts/raises last year and got them done mid-season, and did additional raises for Haines and Owings to help keep them here. That's a good track record and I expect Scott, Pam, and others are going to keep doing what they have been doing.

Yea. He might wait for Florida. That’s a better fit for him vs moving north.

FWIW, here are the betting odds at the moment.

I like Sean Miller. Arizona MBB feels like a PSU FB level program. Bruce Pearl? Tennessee and Auburn aren't quite Penn State level programs with really high expectations, but he went 20 years with a lot of good teams flaming out in the tourney and he never made it past the F4.

After some of our goal line “struggles” against ODU and short yardage issues at Iowa, punching in the two Hemby TD’s at Oregon of all places was extremely satisfying.

The UCLA game was put into the six day TV/game time selection window. Big Noon wouldn’t be surprising with the storylines here. We shall see.

With what has transpired since 2024, I wish Scott would meet with them and update the deal. Things have changed and IUFB’s exposure and needs are completely different now. Of course we have a contract and Adidas doesn’t have to do anything, but there is more opportunity here for both sides. I’m not second guessing Scott, he is the man and he knows what he is doing, it just seems like our apparel deal doesn’t match what IU athletics is now.

For sure. I’m just commenting on the rumor, which is an interesting one. Not trying to be critical of your post at all.

This is an odd rumor. Adidas makes uniforms and shoes and sells crappy merch. I highly doubt they have any involvement in major athletic dept decisions. It’s not like PSU FB losing some games has any impact on Adidas’ bottom line.

Lmao.

I think you're right. He's built something here basically from scratch exactly how he wants it such that we can beat a #2/3 ranked team at Autzen and have the fifth best odds to win it all at the moment. It's wild to say, but his ceiling here is surprisingly very high in this modern era of CFB. I find it hard to see his redoing everything he's done the past two years, especially at 65. He could build up another program I'm sure and do very well, but it's a lot of redundant effort and there is some risk too. And how much better is PSU as a platform to do something like win national titles? It's better, yes, but I'm not sure it is by a whole lot. They have two natties from the 1980s and haven't been competitive for titles in the modern era. They're not a program that sets up coaches to win it all like an OSU or LSU, nor are they one of the richest programs like Texas or Oregon. It's a Tier II program in a tiny town in the literal middle of nowhere PA (2.5 hours Pittsburgh) with a big stadium. We can pay Cig and staff as much as they can -- that money comes from the athletic dept and we have enough. We likely can't match PSU NIL, but we can probably close the gap such that it's less of an issue. What we do have is the current high performing program Cig has built with strong support from Scott, Pam, and other key figures at IU. I think there is a lot of value in that. These are just some ramblings from a homer IU fan. I'm not well connected to IU, but I know a few people around the program and they're not too worried. If they get worried, I'll get worried, but until then, I feel pretty good he keeps building here. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know Cig and I can only guess. We'll see. And lastly, I've got a sneaking suspicion Cig likes beating the traditional powers at a non-traditional school. I say this in the most positive way -- he's kind of a maniac and it makes the wins even sweeter.

Yea. Kinda funny that as a WVU and Pitt guy… word is he doesn’t like PSU much, which would make sense. Though of course that doesn’t stop someone from taking a job. I feel pretty good he stays and keeps doing what he is doing here — it’s good pretty well!

Interestingly, IU turned out to be a platform where he can make the CFP and beat teams like Oregon on the road. We may not have the most NIL, but our NIL is going up. And he probably has the ideal alignment and relationship with the President, AD, and other key folks, which does matter quite a bit and is part of the reason why this whole thing is working so well. When the fit is great and things are going very well, and hopefully it continues to, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to leave it and restart.

A few observations: Our odds to make the playoff went from -115 (53% chance) before Oregon to -2000 (95%) after. I didn’t track this until now, but we are now +200 (33%) to win the B1G Championship game. OSU is -155 (61%). Wild stuff. Of course we have a lot of football left to play and nothing is a given, but these are just what the old betting markets are saying.

Knowles makes about $3.1M. If we wanted to, we have enough athletic dept revenue to bump Haines up from $2.1M to $3M. No guarantees we would, but I think if it kept him we probably would. But in general I agree head coach jobs are going to be offering more money per year. He could easily get HC offers that exceed $3M/yr, with probably longer duration and more guaranteed money too. Plus it’s a big step up in his career. If he takes a HC gig it’s very understandable and I’ll cheer for him.

True, I think we would pay Haines whatever he wanted, but if he wants the head coaching gig there is nothing we can do. If he wants to go the head coach route, hopefully he is picky about the job he takes and stays here a little longer as he waits for the right one.

I thought we were paying the staff enough after all the big raises last year. Somehow they are justifying even more. Another round of revised contracts/raises makes sense and we’ve got to pump every cent of NIL we can find into this program.

#3 ranking incoming. :-)

Oregon had about 50 yards in the second half before some of the garbage time stuff. What a performance.

Yep. We just won at the #2/3 ranked team. I’m not seeing a reason to move.

Hearing our lockeroom celebrations in the background is amazing!

Yes!!!

BUMP THIS THREAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!