The Indiana Hoosiers football team’s run in the 2025 college football season might be the biggest turnaround for any sports team in history, whether it be collegiate or professional, and now they are in the NCAA College Football Playoff Championship Game, facing the Miami Hurricanes.
Led by Coach of the Year Curt Cignetti and Heisman Award winner Fernando Mendoza, Indiana is in search of the first perfect season of the 12-team playoff era, and behind them is alumnus Mark Cuban, former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban is the wealthiest Indiana alum, and through Cignetti’s first two seasons as head coach, has been the program’s biggest donor, dropping millions of dollars in NIL funding, which comes after a $5 million donation to the school made back in 2015.
Now, one win away from the program’s first national title, Cuban is hopeful that is team can get the job done, and while not the same underdogs as his Mavericks led by Dirk Nowitzki in the 2011 NBA Finals, he, and the rest of the school, can almost taste glory.
Owner Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks celebrates in the locker room after the Mavericks won 105-95 against the Miami Heat in Game Six of the 2011 NBA Finals at American Airlines Arena on June 12, 2011 in Miami, Florida.
Mark Cuban Funding Indiana Football’s Historic Run
While not on the team, and decades since he graduated from the school in Bloomington, Indiana, Cuban has played a big part in the team’s success over the past two years with Cignetti.
While it is difficult to tell the exact amount, it has been reported that Cuban has been Indiana’s biggest donor by far over the past few years. Along with the $5 million for a sports media center and $6 million for the school’s rugby team, Cuban was the biggest funder both last season and this season, hoping to land some of the biggest names in the transfer portal.
According to Front Office Sports, he once again upped that number for this transfer portal season. While the 1981 graduate hasn’t said the exact number, or numbers for that matter, it appears the amount he donated most recently was even larger than the amount last year, which helped them build the current 2025 roster.
“Already committed for this portal,” Cuban told FOS in an email. “Let’s just say they are happier this year than last year.”
Indiana has already landed quarterback Josh Hoover from TCU, with an estimated NIL valuation of at least $2.1 million according to On3. They also have the second-best rating for incoming transfer portal players for next season according to On3, and obviously, have built perhaps the strongest roster this season, highlighted by Heisman winner Mendoza as well as a number of potential NFL Draft picks.
“Being an owner brings a lot of responsibility,” Cuban wrote to The Athletic. “I’m more like someone who cares enough to help something that is important to me, and IU fans everywhere.”
Mark Cuban On Indiana Football And Curt Cignetti
Though not a surprise, along with being the program’s biggest donor, Cuban is also one of Indiana football’s biggest fans. When discussing his connections to the team with Nick Friedell of The Athletic, the billionaire only had good things to say about the school, football program, and head coach Cignetti.
“He literally has turned the concept of ‘Blue Blood’ programs on its head,” he told Friedell in an email. “Cig’s line of ‘production over potential’ says it all. Some people might not like this analogy, but it’s far more like building a professional organization, but with limits on how long a player can stay. There is nothing like it anywhere. Coach, (IU athletic director) Scott Dolson and their staff have figured it out.”
As perhaps one of the most famous Indiana alumni, Cuban also said that he’s seen an outpouring of support from both Hoosier fans and former players, and while reaching the championship is nice, he is focused on winning the whole thing.
“I’ve literally had Centenarians tell me how unimaginable this has been. Players on the ’68 Rose Bowl team tell me the same thing. It’s just all unreal,” he told the Associated Press. “An appearance is fun. It’s been an amazing run. As someone who has lost (two) NBA Finals and won one, I can tell you losing hurts a lot more than winning is fun.”
Cignetti himself has addressed Cuban and his help to turn the program around from a team that won just three games in 2023 to one on the brink of going 16-0 for the first time in the history of the sport.
“We’ve 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’s got instant recognition, which only helps,” he said. “If Mark Cuban wanted to give $10 million, that would be like me donating $10,000. But we’re glad that he’s involved. If he keeps doubling his donation, it’ll be big one day.”
Cignetti, Mendoza, and Cuban are one win away from the most successful season in college football history, and regardless of a win or not, it’s hard to see the man worth $6 billion stopping his donations anytime soon.
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