Indiana's Increased Assistant Salary Pool Ahead of 2025

Indiana continues to not only invest in the program but, most specifically, in its assistants.

As much as star players and talent are significant to the sport of college football, coaching is as correlated to on-field success as it is in any other sport. Programs need strong coaching to win games, particularly when working with the talent deficit Indiana has worked with up to and including 2025.

That is why when folks suggest that Indiana’s 2024 season was a one-off before returning to the ranks previously known, pointing to the program’s continued investment in its on-field staff is a sure sign that Indiana is taking the steps needed to simply reach relevance within the college football scene. Of course, this is not the goal for the staff, but it means Indiana will not be returning to the space it occupied before, as long as the investment continues.

During the 2024 season, Indiana ranked 28th nationally in assistant salary pool (for its 10 on-field assistants), with $5.935M, according to USA Today. Using the figures reported by The Daily Hoosier, The Herald-Times, and Sports Illustrated, Indiana will unofficially increase that pool to $7.625M in 2025, which would have ranked 13th in the nation in 2024. For reference, Indiana’s salary pool in 2023, before Curt Cignetti was hired, was just $4.885M (behind Purdue for 38th in 2024).

• 2023: $4.885M (38th in 2024 ranks)

• 2024: $5.935M (28th)

• 2025: $7.625M (13th)

The Hoosiers are increasing their 2024 salary pool by 30.1% and have increased the pool by 56.1% since 2023. That type of increased investment in less than three years proves that Indiana means business in this space.

For more details on assistant salaries, visit the BSB Assistant Salary Pool chart here.

You might be asking: What about the commitment to pay assistants $11M in 2025? That number is not limited to the 10 on-field assistants. It also includes strength and conditioning, marketing, management, etc, which are also very significant to a successful program. So when it’s reported that Ohio State leads the nation in assistant salary pool with $11.43M in 2024, that is just for its 10 on-field assistants.

That is likely not Indiana’s institutional goal, but its committed investment means it will remain competitive. That includes the time after Curt Cignetti’s tenure in Bloomington too, which is one of his most lasting achievements at Indiana to this point.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers…