Indiana football has been the feel-good Cinderella story of the 2024 college football season.
First-year coach Curt Cignetti turned a program that had won nine games over the previous three seasons into a College Football Playoff contender and has won 10 games for the first time in program history. But not everyone is a fan of the Hoosiers‘ remarkable turnaround. Just ask U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
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During a visit to the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, Alabama, the former Auburn coach turned U.S. Senator discussed the state of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in college athletics. During his speech, he took a shot at No. 5 Indiana. Tuberville was elected to the United States Senate in 2021.
Tuberville has a unique perspective as a former college football coach. He was head coach at Ole Miss (1995-98), Auburn (1999-08), Texas Tech (2010-12), and Cincinnati (2013-16).
“You just don’t build a team, you pretty much buy a team now,” Tuberville said. “That was a little bit forbidden when I was in coaching, but now it’s legal. Look at Indiana. They went out and bought them a football team, and look where they’re at. They’re playing Ohio State this week, possibly play for a national championship and maybe in the Final Four.”
No. 6 Indiana takes on No. 2 Ohio State in a game that, with a win, could help the Hoosiers reach the Big Ten Championship Game. The Hoosiers have not beaten the Buckeyes since 1988.
Cignetti signed 31 transfer players in his first recruiting class with the Hoosiers, 14 of whom came from his old coaching spot at James Madison. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke was added from Ohio.
“It’s a new day and age in football where, with the portal, you can change the team real quick,” Cignetti said at Big Ten media days. “I was given the resources to do that, and I knew when we came in, (and) I started interview the old players, that we’d need a lot of new faces. Fortunately, they did me a favor by leaving.”
Tuberville addressed many people’s concerns about players signing NIL deals and then bolting for greener pastures by breaking contracts. He mentioned having penalties for players who break NIL deals, adding that the commerce committee will look at the rules and regulations closely when it comes to them.
“I’m not against players making money, but we got to have some kind of penalty for players breaking contracts,” Tuberville said. “So it’s got to go both ways … So we’ll continue to look at it once we get a new administration in. I’m going to get a couple of people on the Democratic side.”
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