Why Indiana may owe Curt Cignetti another raise mere months after coach signed massive contract extension

Cignetti has Indiana on the verge of a national championship

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has already pocketed more than $1.8 million in bonuses this season for the unbeaten Hoosiers and that number will further increase with two more victories in the College Football Playoff.

Cignetti's Big Ten Championship win over Ohio State last month earned him $1 million, with another $875,000 in bonuses coming thanks to six Big Ten victories, the league's coach of the year honor and a CFP semifinal trip. That $700,000 bonus for reaching the Peach Bowl moves to $1 million with a win and $2 million if Indiana finishes the deal as national champions on Jan. 19 in Miami.

There's more fine details within Cignetti's expertly crafted contract, too. Following the Rose Bowl win over Alabama in the playoff quarterfinals, Cignetti has triggered a "good market faith review" clause in his contract, meaning Indiana will be required to renegotiate his current deal -- a lucrative extension he just signed in October -- to be greater than or equal to the nation's third highest-paid coach.

Cignetti's eight-year contract with an annual $11.6 million salary that runs through the end of the 2033 regular season was finalized shortly after the Penn State job opened this coaching cycle. It added another year to his standing deal and bumped his average annual pay by $3.6 million. 

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However, that's chump change to what he'll be paid at Indiana given this postseason run. According to his contract, Cignetti and the Hoosiers will have 120 days after Indiana's CFP semifinal appearance to agree to a salary increase. If not, Cignetti's current contract buyout would be void, giving him freedom to coach elsewhere with no penalty -- should he choose to do so.

Cignetti was even awarded a $1 million retention bonus on Nov. 30, just over a month after signing his extension in Bloomington. This has been the most lucrative year of Cignetti's coaching career both on the field and off.

Cignetti is moving up the list of college football's highest-paid coaches (via Spotrac) in short order. At worst, he'll be making nearly $1 million more next season given the year he's had with the Hoosiers.

• Kirby Smart, Georgia: $13.2 million
• Lane Kiffin, LSU: $13M
• Ryan Day, Ohio State: $13M
• Curt Cignetti, Indiana: $11.6M
• Lincoln Riley, USC: $11.5M
• Dabo Swinney, Clemson: $11.4M
• Mike Elko, Texas A&M: $11M
• Steve Sarkisian, Texas: $10.8M
• Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri: $10.7M
• Dan Lanning, Oregon: $10.6M

For Indiana, Cignetti is worth the cost

The "good market faith review" provision is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but it was first brought to the spotlight after Swinney's record-setting extension at Clemson in 2019. Within that contract -- which included an Alabama buyout clause in case he ever left for the Crimson Tide -- the Tigers agreed to review the terms of the deal and increase his pay to top three in the sport if Clemson reached the playoff in 2022 or after. Nick Saban's prior contract at Alabama also featured similar language that guaranteed a compensation bump relative to the coaching marketplace.

For Indiana, Cignetti is undoubtedly worth the cost. He just took Alabama behind the woodshed for the Crimson Tide's worst bowl game beatdown in program history and is one win shy of sending the Hoosiers to the national championship game.

Indiana's quest now is to beat an Oregon squad for the second time this season. The Hoosiers did it once in Eugene and now must do it again in Atlanta on an even bigger stage.

"It's easy for me to assume we've had a lot of big wins this year and we know how to bounce back, but it's a process," Cignetti said on Big Ten Network after the Rose Bowl. "It's really hard to be a good football team twice and Oregon's a really good football team. So, it'll be a tremendous challenge."