2025 IUFB Season

[Magnanimous 5,409]

2 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

NIL is the only thing I could see causing Cig to leave. And a job like Florida doesn’t worry me all that much. This year Florida plays LSU, Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida State. That’s an absolute gauntlet of a schedule. It’s not always going to be that tough, but still. Florida fans will expect any coach to win 6 or 7 of those, and when they don’t, they’ll call for his job. 

In the Big 10, you’ve got Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon as the three top dogs, but really every other spot in the conference is up for grabs. IMHO, I think the road to the CFP is easier at IU than it is at Florida. The ceiling might be higher at Florida because of the blueblood name, resources, etc., but good luck getting through the SEC every year (like the fans will expect) to reach that ceiling. 

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. 

[Lebowski 3,924]

15 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

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. 

And.... IT"S GLORIOUS!!!!!

[Hoosierfan1901 8,412]

I think Coach Cig is making like $8-9 million a year with an very, large buyout.

[Pagoda 5,650]

Not to be a downer or combative, but we don't have butt-loads of money.  Texas, Texas Tech, OSU, Oregon, A&M, UGA, etc. have the big bucks.

Our alumni base is large and has potential, but it's not that much bigger than other alumni bases.  Plus, IUFB has very few non-alumni fans, which is tough, as the non-alumni can really power a program -- see Ohio State, or our basketball program.  The IUFB fanbase is growing fast, but it's still small.  We have some solid billionaire/high net work donors, but they're not Phil Knight or Cody Campbell.

Looking at the current AP top-10, I'm certain all those schools spend $12-15M+ more on their rosters than we do.  Some are probably $20M more.  On top of that, many of those schools have athletic depts generating $100M+ more per year in revenue than we do, mostly driven by their enormous 80-100K+ stadiums, sponsors, etc. 

What Cig is accomplishing with IU's resources is genuinely hard to believe.

I think we can close the money gap to maybe 75-80% of the biggest programs' player payrolls, which is enough to do big things given our staff, but we've got work to do.  Just being honest here.  I don't think anything is wrong or bad, it's just that building a football program takes time and we're still in the early stages -- we aren't even two years into the Cig era.  And again, the progress IUFB has made under Cig is incredible and very exciting.

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy 822]

52 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

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. 

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.

[Magnanimous 5,409]

1 hour ago, Pagoda said:

Not to be a downer or combative, but we don't have butt-loads of money.  Texas, Texas Tech, OSU, Oregon, A&M, UGA, etc. have the big bucks.

Our alumni base is large and has potential, but it's not that much bigger than other alumni bases.  Plus, IUFB has very few non-alumni fans, which is tough, as the non-alumni can really power a program -- see Ohio State, or our basketball program.  The IUFB fanbase is growing fast, but it's still small.  We have some solid billionaire/high net work donors, but they're not Phil Knight or Cody Campbell.

Looking at the current AP top-10, I'm certain all those schools spend $12-15M+ more on their rosters than we do.  Some are probably $20M more.  On top of that, many of those schools have athletic depts generating $100M+ more per year in revenue than we do, mostly driven by their enormous 80-100K+ stadiums, sponsors, etc. 

What Cig is accomplishing with IU's resources is genuinely hard to believe.

I think we can close the money gap to maybe 75-80% of the biggest programs' player payrolls, which is enough to do big things given our staff, but we've got work to do.  Just being honest here.  I don't think anything is wrong or bad, it's just that building a football program takes time and we're still in the early stages -- we aren't even two years into the Cig era.  And again, the progress IUFB has made under Cig is incredible and very exciting.

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).

[Pagoda 5,650]

16 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

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).

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.

[Magnanimous 5,409]

Pretty good recap of the Illinois game by Fox Sports:

 

[Lebowski 3,924]

2 hours ago, IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy said:

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.

 

[steubenhoosier 1,970]

6 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Not to be a downer or combative, but we don't have butt-loads of money.  Texas, Texas Tech, OSU, Oregon, A&M, UGA, etc. have the big bucks.

Our alumni base is large and has potential, but it's not that much bigger than other alumni bases.  Plus, IUFB has very few non-alumni fans, which is tough, as the non-alumni can really power a program -- see Ohio State, or our basketball program.  The IUFB fanbase is growing fast, but it's still small.  We have some solid billionaire/high net work donors, but they're not Phil Knight or Cody Campbell.

Looking at the current AP top-10, I'm certain all those schools spend $12-15M+ more on their rosters than we do.  Some are probably $20M more.  On top of that, many of those schools have athletic depts generating $100M+ more per year in revenue than we do, mostly driven by their enormous 80-100K+ stadiums, sponsors, etc. 

What Cig is accomplishing with IU's resources is genuinely hard to believe.

I think we can close the money gap to maybe 75-80% of the biggest programs' player payrolls, which is enough to do big things given our staff, but we've got work to do.  Just being honest here.  I don't think anything is wrong or bad, it's just that building a football program takes time and we're still in the early stages -- we aren't even two years into the Cig era.  And again, the progress IUFB has made under Cig is incredible and very exciting.

Just from personal experience. Adding Texas Tech to the list is curious. Lubbock is to the Big 12 as W. Lafayette is to the B1G

[DChoosier 10,149]

5 minutes ago, steubenhoosier said:

Just from personal experience. Adding Texas Tech to the list is curious. Lubbock is to the Big 12 as W. Lafayette is to the B1G

To say the least….Lubbock is not the most fascinating place on earth.

That being said….this year they allegedly have the second highest NIL payroll in the country. I’m guessing there are plenty of kids willing to live there for a year to earn  an extra 100,200,300,400K (pick a number).
 

Will that continue and/or payoff??? We shall see.

[LIHoosier 28,135]

As mentioned in Pagoda's post, Cody Campbell (had a cup of coffee as an Indianapolis Colt) is TT's sugar daddy like Phil Knight or Boone I think it was at Oklahoma St. And like our friend Quinn, he was also appointed to the Chair of their Board of Regents so the money's not gonna stop flowing for awhile.

[J34 1,683]

9 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

NIL is the only thing I could see causing Cig to leave. And a job like Florida doesn’t worry me all that much. This year Florida plays LSU, Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida State. That’s an absolute gauntlet of a schedule. It’s not always going to be that tough, but still. Florida fans will expect any coach to win 6 or 7 of those, and when they don’t, they’ll call for his job. 

In the Big 10, you’ve got Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon as the three top dogs, but really every other spot in the conference is up for grabs. IMHO, I think the road to the CFP is easier at IU than it is at Florida. The ceiling might be higher at Florida because of the blueblood name, resources, etc., but good luck getting through the SEC every year (like the fans will expect) to reach that ceiling. 

Damn! That is a GAUNTLET. 

[Home Jersey 16,889]

18 hours ago, Lebowski said:

 

Last year felt, in a way, like it was truly too good to be true... even understanding Cig is the real deal, a lot of our own fans expected a slight regression this year. Having a good football team is no longer just nice because it makes the wait for basketball fly by (that is true though)... IMO it's the new premiere sport at IU.

And as long as Cig is here, that's unlikely to change even if IUBB starts winning IMO. I hope we do everything we can to retain his staff too, though I know some attrition should be expected. I'd be surprised if at his age, Cig jumps elsewhere when he already has it rolling here. Starting all over again with team building, meeting new VIPs ($$$), admins, etc. just doesn't seem appealing since he's already being very well compensated and in a good position to make the CFP regularly.

I just hope we don't get complacent. If Cig says jump, Dolson and the rest of the AD should ask "how high?"

Yep, I'd shut down the basketball program if it meant Cig lived forever as our HC too, lol

[Pagoda 5,650]

While we need to make some effort with basketball, football absolutely needs to be eating first and prioritized.  I know we like bball, but CFB is 4x bigger than CBB and this is our once in lifetime chance to win big in the biggest sport and change the program for decades to come.  For example if there is $1M in the NIL kitty, that’s got to be going to Cig and not CDD.

On the bright side, FB is the only sport with a material ROI, and if we keep building it will produce excess revenue for other sports, like bball.  This is easy to see at all the football schools who are good at bball.

If a school has a good FB program, that will take care of almost everything else financially.  I think Scott gets this and he is getting all the right people on board, from Pam to the donors.

[Brass Cannon 25,761]

1 minute ago, Pagoda said:

While we need to make some effort with basketball, football absolutely needs to be eating first and prioritized.  I know we like bball, but CFB is 4x bigger than CBB and this is our once in lifetime chance to win big in the biggest sport and change them program for decades to come.  If there is $1M in the NIL kitty, that’s got to be going to Cig and not CDD.

On the bright side, FB is the only sport with a material ROI, and if we keep building it will produce excess revenue for other sports, like bball.  This is easy to see at all the football schools who are good at bball.

The football program being good will trickle down to basketball but not the other way around. 
 

But if both can be great we need to build a statue to Dolson. Has an AD ever had a statue 

[Lebowski 3,924]

Pinch me, must be dreaming. It's about IU fans saying IUFB should take priority over IUBB.

[Lebowski 3,924]

 

[Pagoda 5,650]

You can tell who is watching CFB and IU closely if they acknowledge ODU as a decent win vs the “we didn’t play anyone” in the noncon narrative.

[TheWatShot 15,704]

Anyone else think Illinois falling so far in the polls was another subtle jab at IU football? You think Illinois drops that far if OSU, PSU or Oregon beats them that badly?