By Brooks White, Emily Gustitus and Gracie Peltier

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024) — One year ago, nobody would have imagined Indiana University football being undefeated and being the fourth-highest-ranked Big Ten team. 

The Indiana Hoosiers are 9-0 for the first time in the program’s 137-year history. The Hoosiers have already equaled the program’s previous winningest season. The record hasn’t been touched in 57 years, and in Head Coach Curt Cignetti’s first year at the helm of the program, the Hoosiers see themselves on the brink of a College Football Playoff berth. 

On November 30, 2023, Curt Cignetti was hired as the Head Coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. Exactly one year later, his team will face cross-state rivals, the Purdue Boilermakers, with the chance to cap off the historic regular season with the Old Oaken Bucket. But how did Curt Cignetti’s dominant team come to be? 

The simple answer is the transfer portal and generous donations from members of Hoosiers Connect, Indiana’s NIL collective. “Hoosiers Connect made it public after the hiring of Curt Cignetti that they were willing to spend 4.5 million on the roster,” said Jeremy Gray, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications and Director of the Cuban Center. The Hoosiers anticipated an emphasis on NIL’s use in Curt Cignetti’s first year as the head coach of the Hoosiers. 

Cignetti signed up for a rebuild when he took the head coaching job at IU. When he left James Madison University, 13 players came with him, joining another 17 transfers to round out the 2024 Hoosier roster. The most notable of these transfers is quarterback Kurtis Rourke. Formerly an Ohio University Bobcat, Rourke was named the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year after a season with over 240 completed passes and multiple records set at Ohio University. Rourke is a redshirt senior who transferred to Indiana for his last year of eligibility. 

So far this season, Rourke has posted the second-highest quarterback rating (QBR), at 91.6. Furthermore, the $4.5 million promised to Cignetti by the NIL collective, Hoosiers Connect was used to recruit the current rushing and receiving leaders, Justice Ellison and Elijah Sarratt. The trio of Rourke, Sarratt, and Ellison has accounted for 28 total Touchdowns and has the Hoosiers firmly in contention for the Big Ten Title and a College Football Playoff berth. All three of these players received deals from Hoosiers Connect in October.

Ellison is contracted through Hoosiers Connect to post content on social media related to Indiana athletics and boost engagement with the athletic department. Tyler Harris, Executive Director of Hoosiers Connect, says, “our big mission is to have athletes that are interested in IU. They know that when they come to IU, they can really maximize this opportunity off the field.” The focus of Hoosiers Connect is to promote the student-athletes and the programs that Indiana has to offer. Hoosier Connect also works to supplement costs not covered by athletic scholarships. The goal of the Indiana football team and its partnership with Hoosiers Connect is to spread engagement with the Hoosier community by providing athletes with opportunities to profit from their name, image, and likeness.

“Coach Cignetti is an unbelievable coach. 1000% credit to him and what he’s built,” says Harris. Cignetti has made remarkable strides for the Indiana Hoosiers, and much of that comes from the transfers he brought this year. He has recruited numerous well-rounded athletes who have contributed significantly to the 9-0 record for the Hoosier football team.

Indiana football isn’t the only team on campus with a big budget; Indiana University’s men’s basketball has NIL stars of their own. After losing six of their top players after the 2023-24 season, Head Coach Mike Woodson needed to do some recruiting over the off-season. “Allegedly,  IU men’s basketball spent close to $4 million in NIL money bringing in players this off-season. That’s the name of the game,” Galen Clavio notes in his press conference with our C250 class. Clavio explains that much of the NIL money gets imputed into the football and basketball rosters.

The Hoosiers brought in six powerhouse players, most notably Oumar Ballo and Myles Rice. Ballo is a 7-foot center from Arizona, and he reportedly received $1.2 million in NIL money after committing to IU. As a junior in the 2022-23 season, he was a part of the All-Pac-12 first team and had a career-high 14.2 points per game. He still has one year of eligibility left due to COVID-19, making this year his sixth college basketball season.

Another part of the All-Pac-12 first team, Myles Rice, has also joined the Hoosiers this season. The guard was also named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year for the 2023-24 season, in which he averaged 14.8 points per game. Rice has a uniquely inspiring story as he redshirted the 2021-22 season, and then missed the 2022-23 season to recover from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He transferred from Washington State after the 2023-24 season.

The NIL collective has been an integral part of the recent success of IU’s athletic programs, and the Hoosiers are continuing to look for opportunities to keep the winning streak going across the board.

While interviewing people on the street, we got multiple perspectives on the current NIL landscape. These people told us about how NIL has shaped Indiana University athletics and the dynamics of the teams this year.