Mark Cuban understands what this moment means for Indiana football, probably more than most.
Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, is a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He knows what winning looks like. Knows what — and how long — it takes to build a successful program. As an Indiana alum — he graduated from the business school in 1981 — 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.
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, 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.
Those donations were intended to help build the Hoosiers into a title contender, but even Cuban couldn’t foresee a rise this dramatic. Indiana will enter Monday’s College Football Playoff championship against Miami as the No. 1 team in the country looking to build on its best season in program history.
“I’ve literally had Centenarians tell me how unimaginable this has been,” Cuban said via email. “Players on the ’68 Rose Bowl team tell me the same thing. It’s just all unreal.”
At a time in college football when name, image and likeness and the transfer portal dominate the landscape, Cuban’s support for the Hoosiers shows how the right financial backing — and an institution’s ability to attract the right celebrities and deep-pocketed alumni — can help alter a program’s trajectory.
“It takes a village. It takes money,” Cignetti said Saturday. “But it’s not all about money. 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.”
Cuban has voiced his support for the team over the years and watched up close at the Peach Bowl when Indiana dominated Oregon 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’t the goal.
“An appearance is fun. It’s been an amazing run,” Cuban said. “As someone who has lost (two) NBA Finals and won one, I can tell you losing hurts a lot more than winning is fun.”
The Hoosiers haven’t given any indication they’re done winning, though.
They’re 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 in nearly half a century. They’ve beaten Alabama (38-3) and Oregon (56-22) in the CFP by an average of 34.5 points.
Part of that success can be credited to the Hoosiers’ Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who has thrown 41 touchdowns this season and has completed 31 of 36 passes in the playoff.
Part is because of their defense, which has been among the nation’s stingiest all season.
But a huge factor in the Hoosiers’ success is their measured, blunt-spoken head coach Cignetti, who is the first back-to-back AP coach of the year.
“He is CigGPT,” Cuban said. “He and (athletic director) Scott Dolson have redefined how to build a winning team in the NIL era. To IU fans this is everything.”
Cignetti returned the praise to Indiana’s biggest donor. He and Cuban are three years apart in age and were born in the same hospital in western Pennsylvania.
“If Mark Cuban wanted to give $10 million, that would be like me donating $10,000,” Cignetti said. “But we’re glad that he’s involved. If he keeps doubling his donation, it’ll be big one day.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.