Back in December, just after knocking off defending national champion Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, Indiana locked up both of their coordinators with new three-year deals.
Today, the details of those deals were revealed and Bloomington, Indiana is now home to one of the highest paid coordinators in college football.
On the offensive side of the ball, Mike Shanahan inked his new deal on December 18th.
The architect of the nation’s #3 scoring offense at nearly 42 points per game, Shanahan has seen his salary on a steady rise. The young rising coordinator made $800k while sharing the coordinator title with Tino Sunseri in 2024, and earned a bump to $1.15 million this past season when he was elevated to offensive coordinator following Sunseri’s brief departure to UCLA.
Heading into 2026, Shanahan is set to make $1.7 million, followed by $1.8 million next fall and $1.9 million in 2029, the final year of the deal.
If he were to leave for any other coaching job before April 15, 2026, Shanahan would owe IU 50% of his remaining compensation.
The rest of his buyout language specifies that if he were to leave between mid-April of 2026 and 2027, he would owe the school 40% of his current total compensation if he left for another Big Ten program, and 30% for a position outside the Big Ten. That would drop by 10% each for a move the following year, and ends with him owing 30% if he left for another Big Ten school between April 16, 2028 and end of the 2028-29 season and 15% for a position outside the Big Ten.
Shanahan would owe no buyout for leaving for a Division I head coaching job, or any coaching position with an NFL team.
On the defensive side of the ball, where Bryant Haines has been responsible for putting offenses in a blender since his arrival alongside Cignetti last season, the latest extension marks the third time he’s earned one over the past 13 months. Haines inked his new deal back on December 12th, just days after helping Indiana capture the Big Ten title.
As Cignetti said just before Christmas, Haines has consistently been pursued by some of the top teams in college football, so getting a deal done to keep him overseeing the defense in Bloomington has been a very high priority.
In his new deal, Haines enters the elite $3 million territory for college coordinators.
Indiana is set to pay him $3 million in 2026, $3.1 million in 2027, and $3.2 million in 2028. The new salary puts him right in line with what Penn State had agreed to pay Jim Knowles in 2025 as the highest paid coordinator in college football.
The reigning AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year and finalist for the Broyles Award will make a base salary the same as Shanahan at $450k, with the bulk of the rest of his pay coming via outside marketing and promotional income.
Come the end of each January he remains part of the staff he will receive a $75k retention payment, and that payment will come again on July 31st if he’s still with the Hoosiers.
As for buyouts, Haines would owe Indiana 100% of his then-current total annual compensation if he were to leave for another coaching position of any kind before April 15, 2026. That would change to 30% of his annual comp if he left for another Big Ten program by April 15, 2027, and 20% for any position outside the Big Ten, and then 30% for leaving for another Big Ten school or 15% for any other coaching position in the final year of the deal.
Indiana and the undefeated Hoosiers face Oregon in a rematch from earlier this season earlier season rematch tomorrow night for a chance to compete for a national title against the winner of tonight’s matchup between Miami and Ole Miss.
