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Mark Cuban details how he helped Indiana land Fernando Mendoza with NIL package

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/05/26brianjones_93

It sounds like Mark Cuban played a big role in Indiana landing quarterback Fernando Mendoza for the 2025 college football season. In an upcoming episode of Portfolio Players, Cuban, an Indiana alum, revealed that he provided the NIL money to get Mendoza in Bloomington.

“It all started really at the Notre Dame playoff game the year before. When we were losing, and I was in the suite with the AD Scott Dolson and Pam Whitten, we sucked from the beginning,” Mark Cuban said. “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.”

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Cuban then said that Dolson told him that they had this quarterback that they really liked that “we think would be great,” but they “just need a little bit more.” Dolson was talking about Fernando Mendoza, and they needed more NIL money to land him. Cuban told him that he would put up the money to get Mendoza.

The former Dallas Mavericks majority owner then mentioned that he knew Mendoza’s brother, who was already on the roster. Alberto Mendoza is a Miami Heat fan and would sit behind the team’s bench during games. When the Mavericks would play the Heat, Cuban would talk to Alberto, and they would discuss Indiana.

Mark Cuban ‘put up the money’ to get Fernando Mendoza to Indiana

“I’ll put up the money, and we can go get Fernando, and the rest is history,” Cuban said. When Cuban was asked how much Indiana needed to add Fernando Mendoza to the roster, he said, “They needed enough.”

It turned out to be a good move for Cuban and the Hoosiers, as Mendoza helped the team have undefeated season and win the national championship. Additionally, Mendoza won the Heisman trophy, and the Las Vegas Raiders selected him No. 1 overall in this year’s NFL Draft.

While Mendoza was with the Hoosiers, he had an On3 NIL evaluation of $2.6 million, which ranked No. 5 in college football and No. 7 in the On3 NIL 100. Before Indiana faced Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game in November, Mendoza signed an NIL deal with adidas.

Cuban graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in management. It led to him being the Mavericks’ majority owner from 2000 to 2023 and saw the franchise win the NBA title in 2011.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this story.