Mark Cuban reveals he is the financial reason Fernando Mendoza landed with Indiana: 'The rest is history'

He said that as Indiana was losing, Olson mentioned a quarterback that the Hoosiers had interest in landing.

"He's like, 'We’ve got this quarterback that we really, really like that we think would be great in [Curt Cignetti’s] system, we just need a little bit more,'” Cuban said. “I’m like, ‘How much is a little bit?’ And so he told me, and I’m like, ‘OK, you know, we’re on a roll, I’ll put up the money to get this quarterback.’”

Cuban added that he was aware of Fernando Mendoza's brother, Alberto, already being on the Hoosiers. And prior to then, Cuban told FOS that he had never donated to Indiana athletics.

“I knew [Fernando’s brother Alberto], who was already on the team, was a Heat fan and he would sit behind the Miami bench, and when I would come to go to Mavs-Heat games, he was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to IU,’” Cuban said. “So we met. And so I’m like, 'OK, I’ll put up the money, and we can go get Fernando, and the rest is history.'”

When asked about how much Indiana needed to land Mendoza, all Cuban responded was with: "Enough."

Fernando Mendoza Indiana NIL deal

According to On3, Mendoza had an NIL valuation of $2.6 million as of December 2025, when he landed an endorsement deal with Adidas.

While that valuation was an estimate, it also would've reportedly made him one of the five highest-paid college football players last season.

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