Indiana

Indiana gives hope and joy, but which programs should actually feel bad about this?

Published

2 months ago

January 21, 2026

Indiana gives hope and joy, but which programs should actually feel bad about this?

So now everyone has hope. And some have questions. Such as: “We have talent, tradition, generations of fans, a mega-stadium, a coach and staff who are paid to win championships, an NIL fund that could buy us a small-market MLB team, and we can’t match Curt freaking Cignetti and the Indiana freaking Hoosiers? How?!”

Cignetti is the marvel of his profession, and the scourge. There are a lot of coaches in this sport who, if pressed by their superiors, could not come up with tangible explanations for why Cignetti went 16-0 this season and they didn’t come close. The truth serum answer would be: “He’s better at coaching football than I am.”

There’s no guarantee that Indiana is about to become an Alabama-like dynasty. Yes, that’s a real sentence typed out in 2026. Even if Cignetti can harness consistent dominance in this era, over more than a decade like his former boss Nick Saban, that leaves championships for others to win. More programs than ever, by far, can hold such aspirations.

And some, from the top of the administration to the most casual fan, should feel terrible right now.

I’m not talking about Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and that tier. They may be upset that they can’t hoard talent and have scout teams teeming with five-stars anymore, but boo hoo. No one cares. Suck it up. You’re still very much a “have.”

In fact, if you’ve won a national title in the past 20 years, you don’t qualify. You’ve had joy in the smartphone era. Cry yourself to sleep with whatever you recorded that night. The college football outposts that should feel worst are the ones that have put in the effort and resources over an extended period, have nothing to show for it and just watched Indiana zoom on past to grab the checkered flag.

On this day of celebration, renewal and reflection, let’s talk about those poor suckers.

Penn State

This fall will mark the 40th anniversary of the Nittany Lions’ last national championship. It will mark around a year since Penn State found out that, for all its advantages and decades of excellence, it had no shot of hiring the Indiana coach away from Indiana — a Pennsylvanian, no less. This after firing the coach who had Penn State humming along like a blue blood, except when it came to winning the biggest games. Penn State was slow to the NIL era, but it was caught up in 2025, and it went 7-6.

Now Matt Campbell is in from Iowa State, and he’s an excellent coach. He’s also a “less with more” coach, and sometimes that doesn’t translate as well as hoped to places with all the resources and expectations (see: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State to Florida). When it became clear this season that Iowa State was not going to reach its preseason Big 12 title goal, Campbell was asked about it and said: “Not me. That was never my goal. My goal has always been one thing, and that is to become the best version of ourselves that we can become. … and really, my challenge for this year’s team was to become the greatest ‘together team’ in the history of Iowa State football.”

Cignetti, on the other hand: “Yeah, let’s just win every frigging game.”

Tennessee

The Vols emerged from nearly two decades of industry-leading dysfunction — which didn’t shake its fans, which is an incredible story all its own — to regain respectability under coach Josh Heupel and AD Danny White. Tennessee has double-digit wins and top-10 finishes in two of the past four seasons, making the 12-team CFP in 2024 and losing at Ohio State. Its previous two top-10 finishes came in 2001 and 1999. Those came right after the last national championship, capping the 1998 season and kicking off the BCS era.

That’s good, but the 2025 season wasn’t, even with last-second quarterback replacement Joey Aguilar (in for post-spring defector Nico Iamaleava) putting up big numbers. Heupel, previously a scapegoat at Oklahoma and not generally a sacrificer of coaches, fired defensive coordinator Tim Banks to bring in Jim Knowles. He struck out on portal quarterbacks. It’s plug a leak/find a new leak, and stands in such contrast to IU’s brand of sound, consistent, powerful football. And while Vols fans are unshakeable, they may be unkind to Heupel if he can’t figure things out with a young quarterback in 2026.

While Vols fans are unshakeable, they may be unkind to Josh Heupel if he can’t figure things out with a young quarterback in 2026. (Photo by Bryan Lynn / Getty Images)

USC

Remember, Heupel was long presumed to be Bob Stoops’ choice as successor in Oklahoma, having won him a national championship and all as a quarterback. Instead, Stoops fired Heupel as co-offensive coordinator after the 2014 season, brought in Lincoln Riley from East Carolina and handed the program off to him two years later. The hyperbole that accompanied Riley’s departure for USC, and the extent to which he has failed to deliver, are magnified by the exploits of Big Ten “rival” Indiana (which USC last played in 1982).

Cignetti is reaching the Playoff with Kurtis Rourke and winning it all with Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. Riley is losing eight games in two seasons with Heisman winner Caleb Williams and 10 more in two seasons with a combination of Miller Moss and Jayden Maiava. The days of Pete Carroll, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush (last title: 2004 season) feel distant.

Miami

The “U” is back. The “U” will be back. But how many chances like that will the “U” get? The reality is, Indiana left the door wide open with a false start and a roughing the passer, and was in a shaky position to strike back on a last possession because of two timeouts it had to use earlier. That is, if Miami took its time, took what was there and moved into position for close shots at the end zone. Carson Beck got greedy and misread a safety. Great run, but few things are worse than getting that close and not finishing.

Mario Cristobal has answered some questions and will have stacked teams ahead. But that’s no guarantee of more runs this deep. Also, if there’s any such thing as football karma, it might just get Miami after the Duke quarterback situation.

Texas

The Longhorns are just on the other side of that 20-year cutoff — if you thought Monday’s game was good, go back on YouTube and watch Texas 41, USC 38 for all the marbles, from Jan. 4, 2006 at the Rose Bowl. And wonder, among other things, how Vince Young isn’t getting fitted for a gold jacket right around now.

Texas has more money and talent than anyone, with a purported genius coaching, so it’s galling enough to see anyone else win it all. But Indiana? A two-bit basketball school? Steve Sarkisian has lifted the Longhorns to their highest consistent level in 15 years, but a title in 2026 is the only acceptable outcome. That was true before, but it’s extra extra true now.

Oregon

A title may be as likely for the Ducks, Stewart Mandel’s early preseason No. 1 team, as anyone in 2026. This is the best program without one, a program with limitless financial support and a 21st century tradition of excellence. It seems only a matter of time, maybe not much time, before Dan Lanning gets the Ducks to the pinnacle. But imagine telling him, or any Oregon fan, that not only would the Hoosiers come into Eugene and get a win this season, they’d put a 56-22 semifinal thumping on the Ducks — and that it would actually be worse than the final score. Cignetti has handed out many a humiliation in the past two years, none as eye-popping as that one.

Notre Dame

Like Oregon, Notre Dame should feel great about its future with its young coach (Marcus Freeman) in place and a lot of momentum. But we’re talking 1988 on this title drought. Like Miami, we’re talking about a team that just got all the way to the final game (last season vs. Ohio State) and doesn’t know when it will return. The start to that run was a 27-17 Playoff win over Indiana, another game that was worse than the final score and a thorough outclassing on both lines of scrimmage. How, a year later, did Indiana become an all-time wagon while Notre Dame didn’t get into the tournament?

Rarely is a team other than Notre Dame the best college football team in the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers are the best team in all the land, while the Fighting Irish are making headlines for skipping a bowl game and co-failing with USC to keep that rivalry from an interruption. That won’t do. The Cignatty should have urgency echoing through the halls in South Bend.

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Indiana

Indiana led U.S. in February foreclosure rates, Indy among worst metros

Published

3 hours ago

March 20, 2026

Press Room

Indiana led U.S. in February foreclosure rates, Indy among worst metros

Indiana’s foreclosure filing rate was worst in the nation last month, with two of the state’s metros struggling most.
Rising property taxes and insurance costs have inflated monthly payments.
Gov. Mike Braun and top Republicans say reforms to property taxes and housing will help.

At a time when “affordability” is the watchword in politics nationwide, recent data shows that Hoosiers faced more risk of losing their homes last month than residents in any other state.

Indiana reported the nation’s highest foreclosure filing rate in February, according to real estate data company ATTOM. What’s more, the Indianapolis region ranked among the worst-performing major metro areas.

The findings contradict the view of Indiana and the Indianapolis region as affordable havens where residents can more easily own homes. Experts say that home prices remain low compared with other states but have risen steeply since 2020, increasing property taxes. Upticks in other expenses like homeowners’ insurance and utilities, along with stagnant wage growth, have put an increasing number of Hoosiers at risk of losing their homes.

“This is a bad look for us in general, and it does indicate that our affordability problem is kind of reaching a crisis,” said Sara Coers, associate director of the Indiana University Center for Real Estate Studies. “We have a lower natural ceiling on what we can afford because of the wages that we receive here.”

What Indiana foreclosure data shows

Last month, about one in every 1,600 housing units in Indiana had a foreclosure filing, which means lenders took legal action against a homeowner who failed to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. That foreclosure filing rate was the worst in the nation and more than twice as high as the average U.S. rate, the data shows.

The situation is even worse in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, which landed at No. 3 among metros with over 200,000 people with the worst foreclosure filing rates.

In the Indianapolis region, roughly one in every 1,250 housing units had a foreclosure filing — about three times worse than the national average. Evansville was the only other Indiana metro to make the list, right behind Indy at No. 4.

The problem isn’t new, but it’s growing worse. After falling between 2020 and 2021 thanks to pandemic relief programs, Indiana’s foreclosure filing rates have since rebounded. Throughout 2025, Indiana consistently ranked among the 10 worst states, according to the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana.

What’s behind the affordability crisis

Experts like Coers and FHCCI Executive Director Amy Nelson say the recent spike in foreclosure filings is in part due to rising escrow amounts — monthly payments for property expenses like taxes and homeowners’ insurance.

From 2019 to 2025, Indiana’s average escrow payment rose more than 50%, according to data analytics company Cotality. Today, about one-third of the money that Hoosier homeowners send to lenders each month goes toward those escrow costs, rather than paying down the home loan itself.

Beyond those property costs, residents are consistently spending more money on electricity bills, groceries and now gasoline, because of the war in Iran.

Higher costs especially strain residents in Indiana, a state where wage growth has lagged further behind the U.S. average in recent years, IU’s Indiana Business Research Center reports. More Hoosiers work lower-wage jobs in manufacturing or transportation than the national average, Coers said, and therefore they struggle to weather economic crises.

“Credit card usage is way up, savings rates are way down, and people just don’t have anything to back them up if things don’t go perfectly,” Coers said. “And if your expenses keep rising, but your wages are not keeping pace, it’s just really hard to stay abreast of your own household expenses.”

Households can often avoid foreclosure proceedings by being upfront about their financial struggles with lenders and finding alternate payment plans, said Trevor Meeks, chief consumer solutions officer for the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership. Instead of losing the home through foreclosure, they might be able to sell it to help cover housing costs while they recover.

He said he’s worked with local families who found themselves in financial crises after losing jobs or working reduced hours. He mentioned one single-parent household that was forced to choose between paying for their child’s college tuition and paying the mortgage.

“Our mortgage borrower made the very difficult decision to cover the cost of tuition themselves and jeopardized their ability to make the mortgage payment on time,” Meeks said.

How Indiana leaders are responding

Indiana lawmakers in both political parties have increasingly called affordability a top concern, including Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.

In a March 19 interview with IndyStar, Braun noted that Hoosier homeowners will soon get some relief as his sweeping property tax reform law, Senate Enrolled Act 1, takes effect this year. Two-thirds of homeowners are projected to see a lower property tax bill in 2026 than last year, mainly through tax credits that will save households up to $300.

With policies like this year’s House Enrolled Act 1001, Republicans also took steps to reduce the cost and regulatory burden on homebuilders so they can build more housing to help ease prices, Braun said.

To tackle the other side of the issue and boost wages, the governor said he’s pushing the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to create 100,000 more high-wage jobs in agricultural and life sciences in Indiana over the next decade. He said the state will commit $1 billion to that goal.

Braun’s property tax reforms have been criticized for offering meager savings to homeowners while sapping revenue from local governments, likely forcing leaders to make cuts to services like education and infrastructure unless they impose higher income taxes.

But Braun said Indiana’s staggering foreclosure filing rate shows that households need relief and local governments need to make do with less.

“I think if local governments are complaining about revenues being too slim, well, that obviously would be something that’d be hard to square with the fact that property tax payers, specifically as it relates to homes, are having trouble making ends meet,” Braun said. “So that means something’s got to give in the middle.”

Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.

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Indiana

Missing persons’ advocate calls Indiana database inadequate

Published

15 hours ago

March 19, 2026

Press Room

Missing persons’ advocate calls Indiana database inadequate

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — An advocate for missing people who is close to the family of Hailey Buzbee said Thursday Indiana’s missing-persons database doesn’t give the public enough information to work with.

The Indiana State Police maintains the state’s missing persons website. The page consists of a PDF document with an alphabetical list of missing people along with their date of birth, the investigating agency and the date they were last seen. There is no way to search or sort the list. The page contains neither photographs of the missing nor descriptions or information about the circumstances under which they were last seen. The list also contains duplicate entries.

Silver Lining of Hope founder Megan Tomlinson said it’s hard for the public to help look for someone if they don’t have that information. She said a more detailed public database might have helped locate Buzbee sooner. Buzbee, 17, left her family’s home in early January to meet a man she had met online. She was found dead in Ohio a month later.

“It’s a problem because it hurts the public because we don’t know who’s missing,” she said. “If I want to go on and see who’s missing, I don’t know where to start.”

Most states, though not all of them, have a centralized database of missing people. Many have highly detailed databases. For example, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s database includes a search function, sorting capabilities and photographs and biographical information, when available.

Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, who represents Buzbee’s hometown in the Indiana General Assembly, said lawmakers likely will discuss possible changes to the database as part of a broader summer study committee on missing people. He said the Buzbee case highlighted deficiencies in Indiana’s alerts and other systems that are the result of the passage of time and technological progress.

“One of the things that I know we’ve heard, it’s certainly not a very friendly system as far as searching and obtaining additional information,” he said. “So, what they’re required to put in, what additions we might make to that are things that we’re looking at pretty closely.”

Jeter said summer study committee assignments, which are up to House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray, should be released within the next few weeks. He said any study committee on missing people likely would begin meeting in July or August.

Tomlinson said she and the Buzbee family brought up their concerns about the database with lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session. She said she plans to continue lobbying for changes to it.

Indiana does upload some case information to a federal database called NamUs. Those entries include much more information than can be found on ISP’s website. Tomlinson said the problem with NamUs is that there are limitations on what kind of cases can be included.

The Indiana State Police turned down News 8’s request for comment on Tomlinson’s concerns.

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Indiana

Butler University creates fund to back arts organizations

Published

1 day ago

March 19, 2026

Press Room

Butler University creates fund to back arts organizations

Butler University is using shows at Clowes Memorial Hall and its other venues to build what it says will be long-term help for the performing arts in the city it calls home.

Since June of last year, Butler has been quietly building an Arts Performance Fund. The university says it’s tied to ticket sales for shows at Clowes Hall. For every ticket sold, $1 is directed into a fund that will offer grants to local arts organizations. In less than a year, the school says the fund has already grown to $150,000.

Aaron Hurt, Butler’s Vice President for Arts, Events and Enterprise Management, appeared on WISH-TV’s Daybreak on Thursday to talk about the fund.

Beginning in summer 2027, Butler says it will start distributing grants to Indianapolis-area arts organizations, with a goal of strengthening the broader arts ecosystem in the city. Based on projected ticket sales and additional fundraising, the university expects the fund to reach $1 million by June 1, 2027, with a long-term goal of $10 million dedicated to local arts support.

In addition to the ticket contribution model, Butler is expanding the fund through philanthropy and by launching two new patron levels for frequent Clowes attendees, which will include VIP access and special benefits tied to performances on campus.

Last year, Butler began renovations at Clowes Hall, upgrading seating across the theater’s three balcony terraces, including the addition of open-air suites and new gender-neutral restrooms. The venue also added loading docks and made improvements to the stage rigging and floors to accommodate more types of performances, including modern Broadway shows.

Next year, Butler says it will add a new ballroom to the east lobby of Clowes, giving the venue another event space. The university says the Allen Whitehill Clowes Ballroom is scheduled to open in Spring 2027.

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