How Indiana Football Success Can Help Darian DeVries Jumpstart Basketball

Football is king in college athletics. So much so that success on the gridiron can be a boon for an entire university.

That's why Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and president Pamela Whitten made such concerted effort to find the right football coach and pour money into a program that had been an afterthought in Bloomington for decades.

Because throughout Indiana's run to its first-ever national championship under Curt Cignetti, everyone is feeling the impact. And somewhat ironically, football could be part of the recipe that revives basketball at a historically prominent basketball school.

First-year coach Darian DeVries knows that, and he gave a shoutout to the football team during Monday's press conference ahead of Tuesday's home game against No. 12 Purdue.

"I want to start off by congratulating the football team, national champs," DeVries said. "What an incredible season that was. It was so much fun to watch them compete all year, and to finish it off the way they did was very fitting. So again, congratulations. What an awesome, awesome deal."

Indiana football generated millions during CFP run, helping entire university

Curt Cignetti Indiana Football — Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti holds up the CFP National Championship trophy at Hard Rock Stadium. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Indiana football accounted for four of the top seven most-watched college football games this season. The national championship versus Miami, the Rose Bowl versus Alabama, the Big Ten Championship against Ohio State and the Peach Bowl against Oregon combined for approximately 90.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

High-level television exposure alone is great for the university, as it could lead to an increase in applications, enrollment, tourism, merchandise sales, ticket sales, name-brand recognition and more. The financial implications are even greater.

Indiana football's winning ways have attracted donations from billionaire Mark Cuban, as well as other wealthy alumni. Even small donations from members of the largest living alumni base in the country add up quickly, making Indiana a premier destination for name, image and likeness deals.

Indiana also brought in $20 million during its College Football Playoff run, according to Yahoo! Sports, which will be distributed evenly across the Big Ten. That's in addition to the Big Ten's $8 billion media rights deal, revenue that can be shared with student-athletes across various sports.

That makes for great timing for first-year basketball coach Darian DeVries.

"I think it's been awesome. Not only for the football program, but it's been awesome for all of our athletics and school and the exposure that brings," DeVries said. "Even throughout the fall, being able to bring recruits in and have them at an atmosphere and a football game that we have, that only adds to our ability to recruit and have good recruiting weekends. So I think it's awesome all the way around, and certainly excited about what that does for our program as well."

DeVries off to a 13-7 start with a 4-5 mark in Big Ten play in his first season, putting the Hoosiers among the first four out in Joe Lunardi's latest NCAA Tournament field. But with more attention on football this school year than ever, some of the heat has been turned down around a basketball program than has missed seven of the last nine NCAA Tournaments.

At the same time, DeVries' program should benefit in the long run from football's success. That's not to say he relies on the football team –– just look at Indiana's history –– but he'd certainly rather have a lively football stadium to enhance recruiting visits in the fall. The money doesn't hurt, either.

All of that being said, pressure isn't going away entirely at a program that still wants to hold onto its blue blood status. And it should ramp back up Tuesday, with DeVries' first in-state rivalry a game against No. 12 Purdue.

To buy the Sports Illustrated Indiana National Championship cover, visit this link.

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