Mark Cuban says he provided NIL money that helped Indiana land Fernando Mendoza in transfer portal

Just as Indiana’s storybook 2024 season was coming to a disappointing close, the stage was apparently being set for a 2025 campaign that redefined the program’s ceiling.

In a recent interview with Front Office Sports, Mark Cuban wound back the clock to Dec. 20, 2024, when the Hoosiers were losing to Notre Dame in the first round of that season’s College Football Playoff. Cuban, the former Dallas Mavericks majority owner who’s notably an Indiana alum, was in a suite with the school’s athletic director, Scott Dolson, and president, Pamela Whitten.

That’s where a conversation took place that Cuban says led to him providing NIL money that helped the Hoosiers land quarterback Fernando Mendoza in the transfer portal.

Before then, Cuban reportedly had never donated to Indiana athletics.

“We were getting blown out from the beginning,” Cuban said of the 27-17 CFP defeat in the interview, which will appear in a new episode of FOS’ “Portfolio Players.”

“First thing I said to Scott was, ‘Well, at least this year you’re not having to look for another football coach.’ Because that was kind of a time-honored tradition at Indiana, always looking for a football coach.”

At the time, Indiana was on the heels of its first double-digit-win season. Long a Big Ten bottom dweller, the Hoosiers were representing the conference in the first-ever 12-team playoff under Curt Cignetti, who instantly carried over his success from James Madison.

Albeit with a favorable schedule, Indiana went 11-1 during the 2024 regular season. When all was said and done, its only two losses were to Ohio State and Notre Dame, the teams who played for the national title that time around.

In just one season, Cignetti’s impact in Bloomington was undeniable. Finally, the Hoosiers could lean on continuity at the helm of the program.

“So he’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s the positive,’” Cuban said, via FOS, recounting his dialogue with Dolson back then. “And then we started talking, and he’s like, ‘We’ve got this quarterback that we really, really like that we think would be great. …

“Just need a little bit more.’ I’m like, ‘How much is a little bit?’ So he told me, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re on a roll. I’ll put up the money to get this quarterback.’”