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Curt Cignetti offers President Donald Trump national championship trophy in exchange for NIL donation

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp05/11/26

Indiana‘s football team visited the White House on Monday, fresh off winning the program’s first national title in the sport. And coach Curt Cignetti had a bit of a proposal for President Donald Trump.

He wasn’t shy about it, either. As President Trump moved to take the lectern, Cignetti piped in.

“We’ll let you keep the trophy for an NIL contribution,” Cignetti said. The trophy sat a few feet away from the lectern.

The crowd present for the gathering laughed. President Trump also chuckled and then said he’d be up for that kind of quid pro quo.

“I’ll do that for NIL,” Trump said. “Boy oh boy did the courts screw us up, huh? That’s all right. It’s whatever happened it seems to be working for you. You’re going to make it very successful. You’re going to create something very, very successful I have no doubt.”

Indiana has been no stranger to success in large part because of Cignetti’s management of the current NIL landscape. The program has been a huge proponent of taking and developing quality transfers, like star quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

And it has had some help in landing them. So it’s no surprise to see Cignetti joking with President Trump about getting even more support for his NIL efforts.

Mark Cuban talks Fernando Mendoza funding

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.

That all kicked off the journey in the 2025 season. A journey that ultimately ended with a visit to see President Trump.

“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.”

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.

In the end it all worked out. So now Cignetti is moving up the chain, speaking directly to President Trump about his next moves on the NIL front.