$105 Million Head Coach Strongly Advocates for College Football Playoff Expansion

The debate over how big the College Football Playoff should get has moved from boardroom theory to front-page reality.

For months, the sport’s power conferences have sparred. The Big Ten is pushing a sweeping 24-team format, while the SEC prefers a tighter 16-team model.

A recent document leak and a wave of public endorsements have sharpened the argument and raised the stakes heading into the offseason.

An internal Big Ten plan reportedly outlined a 24-team bracket, eliminating conference championship games, adopting a 23 automatic-qualifier plus one at-large model, and adding another weekend of on-campus playoff games.

The proposal could reshape scheduling, television inventory, and even the value of conference membership, turning policy debate into leverage.

Into that high-stakes conversation stepped Curt Cignetti, fresh off a perfect season and the first national title in Indiana Hoosiers history.

Shortly after completing one of the fastest turnarounds in modern college football, Cignetti signed a new extension averaging $13.2 million per year through 2033, roughly $105 million total, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport.

On Monday, with Greg McElroy, Cignetti publicly backed the Big Ten’s 24-team model, saying, “I know we’re going to go through a change here at some point and time, there’s a discussion out there about it. It’s a great system, the more teams you can get involved, the better, within reason."

"Being that I’m a part of the Big Ten Conference, I have a lot of respect for Tony Petitti, and he supports a 24-team Playoff, (so) I’m going to follow the company line there. But I do think more than 12 would not be a bad thing," Cignetti added.

Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti. — Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti stands with his hands on his hips during the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Long term, the Big Ten’s proposal would accelerate a realignment of access and power. A 24-team field with conference-based automatic berths would materially increase representation for the league while reducing the influence of smaller conferences and at-large selection narratives.

By contrast, the SEC’s 16-team approach seeks to expand the bracket without surrendering control to guaranteed bids, preserving high-value at-large matchups and limiting how widely postseason access is distributed.

For now, the CFP management committee has kept the playoff at 12 teams as negotiations continue, underscoring how unsettled the future remains.

Every public endorsement from a high-profile coach increases the political pressure surrounding an already delicate compromise. And when the coach of the sport’s latest Cinderella, now a proven national contender, publicly backs expansion, it gives his conference added leverage in a negotiation that’s as much about power as it is format.