{"id":416046,"date":"2026-01-19T14:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/416046\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T14:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:28:11","slug":"cubans-support-has-helped-transform-indiana-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/416046\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban’s support has helped transform Indiana football"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Mark Cuban understands what this moment means for Indiana football<\/a>, probably more than most.<\/p>\n

Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, is a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He knows what winning looks like. Knows what \u2014 and how long \u2014 it takes to build a successful program. As an Indiana alum \u2014 he graduated from the business school in 1981 \u2014 he also has watched its rapid rise from one of the most unsuccessful programs in college football history to the brink of a national title.<\/p>\n

Cuban has poured millions into his alma mater over the years, long before Curt Cignetti took over the football team in 2024 and made it a national contender<\/a>, including a $5 million donation in 2015 for a sports media center. Recently, Cuban has become a significant donor for the football program and earlier this year told Front Office Sports he has donated more money for the current transfer cycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those donations were intended to help build the Hoosiers into a title contender, but even Cuban couldn\u2019t foresee a rise this dramatic. Indiana will enter Monday\u2019s College Football Playoff championship against Miami<\/a> as the No. 1 team in the country looking to build on its best season in program history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve literally had Centenarians tell me how unimaginable this has been,\u201d Cuban said via email. \u201cPlayers on the \u201868 Rose Bowl team tell me the same thing. It\u2019s just all unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time in college football when name, image and likeness and the transfer portal dominate the landscape, Cuban\u2019s support for the Hoosiers shows how the right financial backing \u2014 and an institution\u2019s ability to attract the right celebrities and deep-pocketed alumni \u2014 can help alter a program\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a village. It takes money,\u201d Cignetti said Saturday. \u201cBut it\u2019s not all about money. We\u2019ve got a lot of alums, a lot of rich alums. Mark Cuban is a very visible guy. … We kind of hit it off right off the bat. He\u2019s got instant recognition, which only helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuban has voiced his support for the team over the years and watched up close at the Peach Bowl when Indiana dominated Oregon<\/a> to punch its ticket to the national championship. He has enjoyed the up-close ride but made it clear that simply getting to the title game isn\u2019t the goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn appearance is fun. It\u2019s been an amazing run,\u201d Cuban said. \u201cAs someone who has lost (two) NBA Finals and won one, I can tell you losing hurts a lot more than winning is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers haven\u2019t given any indication they\u2019re done winning, though.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re 26-2 since Cignetti took over and have gone 15-0 this year, earning their first No. 1 ranking in school history. Last month, they won their first Big Ten title<\/a> in nearly half a century. They\u2019ve beaten Alabama<\/a> (38-3) and Oregon<\/a> (56-22) in the CFP by an average of 34.5 points.<\/p>\n

Part of that success can be credited to the Hoosiers\u2019 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who has thrown 41 touchdowns this season and has completed 31 of 36 passes in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Part is because of their defense, which has been among the nation\u2019s stingiest all season.<\/p>\n

But a huge factor in the Hoosiers\u2019 success is their measured, blunt-spoken head coach Cignetti, who is the first back-to-back AP coach of the year.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is CigGPT,\u201d Cuban said. \u201cHe and (athletic director) Scott Dolson have redefined how to build a winning team in the NIL era. To IU fans, this is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cignetti returned the praise to Indiana\u2019s biggest donor. He and Cuban are three years apart in age and were born in the same hospital in western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mark Cuban wanted to give $10 million, that would be like me donating $10,000,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cBut we\u2019re glad that he\u2019s involved. If he keeps doubling his donation, it\u2019ll be big one day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Mark Cuban understands what this moment means for Indiana football, probably more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5117],"tags":[1250,1249,1251,196,147,5278,5,40,4,43,86,197,1871],"class_list":{"0":"post-416046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-stars","13":"tag-dallasstars","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-news","19":"tag-stars","20":"tag-texas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115922239890207933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}