It won’t be long until Fernando Mendoza takes the NFL field for the first time as a Las Vegas Raider, but new details emerged on Tuesday that shine light on how the star quarterback became an Indiana Hoosier.
Indiana alumni and former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spoke to Front Office Sports, detailing how he helped pay to bring Mendoza on as the team’s cornerstone.
Cuban said he attended the Hoosiers’ CFP first-round loss to Notre Dame in December 2024, recalling a conversation he had with the school’s athletic director Scott Dolson.
“[Dolson]’s like, we’ve got this quarterback that we really, really like that we think would be great in Cig’s system, we just need a litttttle bit more,” Cuban said. “I’m like, ‘How much is a little bit?’ And so he told me, and I’m like, ‘O.K., you know, we’re on a roll, I’ll put up the money to get this quarterback.’”
At the time, Mendoza was weighing his decision after leaving California for the transfer portal.
He was reportedly stuck between several schools including Georgia, UCLA and Missouri. His brother Alberto was already a quarterback for the Hoosiers, someone who Cuban was already friends with.
“I knew [Alberto], who was already on the team, was a Heat fan, and he would sit behind the Miami bench, and when I would come to go to Mavs-Heat games, he was like, ‘Oh yeah, I go to IU and da da da,’” Cuban said. “So we met. And so I’m like, O.K., I’ll put up the money, and we can go get Fernando, and the rest is history.”
The rest truly was history. Mendoza went on to lead Indiana to a perfect 2025 season and a national championship victory while taking home the Heisman Trophy.
He reportedly netted $2.6 million when he transferred to Indiana, although Cuban didn’t disclose how much he personally donated to the school.
“Let’s just say they are happier this year than last year.”
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
