Curt Cignetti Believes Miami has a $40 Million Roster This Upcoming Season
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Numbers in the NIL era of college sports can be a funny thing to try and calculate when there is no evidence of what is truly been given. However, some might know more than others, like Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
After a first successful season coaching the Hooisers and making an appearance in the College Football Playoff, Cignetti has had some issues with the portal and how some teams have thrown around a Godly amount of money for players to play at their program.
"This is an unprecedented couple days, weeks, where everybody's waiting on this rev share, and the five or six out there that have unlimited NIL resources, it's kind of scary for everybody else," Cignetti told John Talty of CBS Sports. "I think our little pot of gold is pretty nice, but we're not at $40 million. Or $30 million. Or even $25 million."
Here are the 6 football programs that Indiana HC Curt Cignetti claims will have a $40M roster this season. pic.twitter.com/BGnxIXR2BD
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) May 5, 2025
"I mean if you want to be the best, you've got to be able to compete against the best," Cignetti said. "Right now, I understand that it is Oregon, Ohio State, Texas. ... Texas Tech because of their oil money. I think Notre Dame's up there pretty good right now, too. Miami, of course. Those people are kind of playing their own game, but you've got to be in that next tier. There are enough good ones out there. You've got to be able to retain your good ones and then go get what you need."
Cignetti is not necessarily complaining about the issue. His only issue is trying to retain good players from entering the portal and going to those schools. The Hurricanes are a key case of going after what a program wants. They have 17 new transfer players this season and most will get a great amount of playing time.
Is the number of $40 million insane, possibly, but it might not be far out there for what the Hurricanes are truly spending on this 2025 roster. Moreover, as long as the Canes win, no one will truly care. Well, at least Hurricanes fans.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.