The Oregon and Indiana football teams reached 10 wins for the season Saturday, and their head coaches are going to be rewarded handsomely.
The Ducks’ Dan Lanning achieved a goal in his agreement with the school that gives him an automatic one-year contract extension if the team wins at least 10 regular season games. The added year is currently scheduled to be worth $9.4 million — all guaranteed.
The Hoosiers’ Curt Cignetti added a $250,000 bonus, as his team became assured of hitting one of the more incentive targets in a Bowl Subdivision contract: finishing the regular season among the top six in the 18-team Big Ten Conference.
Indiana’s minimum final position in the standings was cemented before it took the field for its late-afternoon game against Michigan. On Friday night, Iowa lost to UCLA. And in an early game Saturday, Minnesota lost to Rutgers. That left 14 Big Ten teams with at least three conference losses — the number that Indiana would have had if it lost its three remaining games, beginning with its matchup against the Wolverines.
But even that worst-case scenario became moot when the Hoosiers defeated Michigan, 20-15, to clinch their first 10-win season in program history. Now, they can finish Big Ten play no worse than fourth place, outright.
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Cignetti now has $600,000 in bonuses, to go with the automatic one-year contract extension and $250,000 raise, beginning next season, that he got when Indiana became eligible for a bowl game with its sixth win. At present, the added season is scheduled to be worth $5.1 million with at least $3.3 million guaranteed.
If the Hoosiers keep winning, he could pick up another $2.7 million in bonuses. The next step would be $250,000 more if the team finishes second in the Big Ten.
Lanning’s incentive-clinching was more straightforward.
This is the second consecutive season in which he has added a year to his contract, which calls for a $200,000 pay increase annually. Under the agreement, he can get this automatic extension three times.
He and Oregon are now set to be together through Jan. 31, 2031. If the school fired him without cause, it would owe him all of the pay remaining under the deal (currently about $55 million). If Lanning decides to terminate the agreement between now and the scheduled expiration date, he would owe the school $20 million.
Lanning would get a $250,000 bonus if the Ducks reach 11 regular-season wins and $250,000 more if they reach 12. He has additional amounts available for playing in, and winning, the Big Ten championship game and/or the College Football Playoff. He also can get a bonus based on team academics.