DALLAS — Mark Cuban said college football and basketball roster management has become a tougher job than running an NBA roster. His example was Indiana, which won a national championship without building its team around a collection of five-star recruits. Von Miller responded by going back to Texas A&M‘s 2022 recruiting class, then the highest-rated ever assembled.
Miller and Cuban had the conversation on the Season 2 premiere of Free Range with Von Miller. Miller hosts the Audacy podcast and posts it to his YouTube channel. Cuban joined as the guest, with TJ Banks alongside Miller as co-host.
Indiana capped a 16-0 season Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium, beating Miami 27-21 for the school’s first national championship. The Hoosiers had beaten Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl before eliminating Oregon in the Peach Bowl semifinal. Curt Cignetti is 27-2 at Indiana. His wins there include Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Penn State, and his contract is worth $13.2 million annually.
Cignetti was born in Pittsburgh in 1961. Cuban is a Pittsburgh native as well, and the two have spoken about their relationship.
Mark Cuban On Managing A College Roster
Cuban attended Indiana and is the program’s largest NIL donor. His support increased going into the 2026 season, following Cignetti’s second year, but Cuban has not disclosed how much he contributed.
“Oh, they’re both professional sports teams. They’re both pro teams. The only difference is there’s a five year max on how many years a kid can play for you, but they’re both pro,” Cuban said. “And managing a college football team or basketball team for that matter is harder than an NBA team. Because you can leave after one year. You can go to the transfer portal.”
“And even worse, one of the hardest things with the Mavs was when a kid came in that we drafted young, 19, 20 years old,” Cuban continued. “Had no idea about money. Family never had money. Didn’t really understand how credit cards work, how personal finance works. Now those kids are 18 years old and going into college.”
Cuban owned the Dallas Mavericks from 2000 to 2023 and drafted or acquired players out of high school and one-and-done college seasons throughout that stretch.
Mark Cuban On What Indiana Did Differently
Cuban said bringing the wrong person into a locker room changes everything.
“One of the cool things that I liked about Indiana that really resonated for me is they brought in coaches who knew that they were pro coaches,” Cuban explained. “They knew that they were going to have a guy one year, maybe two years, and so they weren’t trying to create future productivity. It was not about potential. It was about current productivity.”
“And they brought in players who already were experienced, who knew their roles. They weren’t bringing in the four or five stars, because the four or five stars, particularly the five stars, wanted to be part of a bidding war,” Cuban added. “They wanted everybody bidding on them. And it’s like the NFL winning the offseason, the NBA winning the summer. In college football, it’s not about winning the summer. It’s not about winning the portal.”
Indiana won the title without a five-star recruit on the roster and with only a few former four-star prospects. Its average roster NIL valuation was roughly $23,000. Cignetti addressed the money after the championship game, saying Indiana had not spent anything close to the figures outsiders believed. Spending climbed going into 2026. TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, for example, carried a reported NIL valuation of $2.5 million.
Von Miller Points To Texas A&M’s Record Class
Miller spent four seasons at Texas A&M, from 2007 through 2010. He left as a consensus All-American and Butkus Award winner before going No. 2 overall in the 2011 NFL Draft.
“Down at Texas A&M, I think it was like three years ago where we had the most expensive football class in the history of college. I think we had the most five-star players too that ever committed to a college,” Miller said. “And you would think that you had all of these five-star players that a national championship was going to be within reach in the next two years.”
“And a lot of those guys left, ended up leaving and going to other schools, and it just didn’t work out,” Miller continued. “So just because we had those five-star players, that didn’t equal success or a national championship.”
Texas A&M signed the highest-rated recruiting class since 247Sports began tracking rankings in 1999, posting a composite score of 333.13 in 2022 under coach Jimbo Fisher. The class included 30 high school signees, 22 Top247 prospects, and eight five-star recruits, a record at the time that Alabama broke with nine the following year.
Fisher’s tenure ended with his firing in November 2023, and Mike Elko took over the program. Six members of the 2022 class were still at Texas A&M by January 2025. The program has been waiting for another national championship since 1939.
