How to build successful teams

If Indiana University wins the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, fans will owe thanks to billionaire Mark Cuban, one of the football program’s biggest financial donors.

Cuban whose net worth is estimated at $9.6 billion BloombergHe graduated from IU in 1981 with a degree in business administration. He is a long-time donor to his alma mater; 5 million dollars For a sports media center in 2015 6 million dollars For IU’s rugby team in 2024.

Although Cuban did not disclose the size of his recent donations to IU’s athletic department, the billionaire said the amount was “a big number.” he told CBS In October 2025. your team last success The management of head coach Curt Cignetti, hired in 2024, inspired Cuban to reopen his checkbook: School ‘happier this year than last’ after latest donation, Cuban told Front Office Sports: On January 7.

Now, Cignetti’s team is just one win away from a national championship against the University of Miami, and Cuban says it’s because the coach understands the most important aspects of building a successful organization.

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“I’ve been a part of championship organizations, and it’s not easy to build a team,” Cuban said from Bloomington, Indiana. Herald-Times The billionaire was the majority owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks when they won the NBA championship in 2011 and remains a minority owner of the team today.

Cuban said he discussed the team-up strategy with Cignetti and was impressed. Cuban said the coach assured Cuban that the team would use its donations to recruit a well-rounded roster of players, rather than spending the money to pursue just a few high-profile players.

“This is about recruiting players who know their roles, work as a team, continue to improve and work within the system,” Cuban told the newspaper. “When you have a coach and an organization that understands that, that’s how championship teams and organizations are built. So I was very excited to support them.”

Cuba has mentioned it before We see how good leaders build successful businesses by hiring the right people. Leaders should avoid hiring people who don’t fit the company culture, he said, “because you can’t disagree on what the company’s vision is.” March 2021 episode From the “Startup Awesomeness” podcast. “You have to hire the right people for the right roles.”

Cuban added in “Starting to Greatness” that every winning team or successful business needs employees who are successful in their specific roles, like the “hitch guys” on the basketball team. Cuban said the two most important considerations for leaders when building a team are culture and competence. MasterClass course It was released in February 2024.

Cuban chose to attend IU because, at the time, the university offered the cheapest education among the nation’s top 10 business education programs, he said. He praised his time at school for exposing him to “all kinds of different people” [and] He developed “ideas” while honing his early entrepreneurial skills: While an undergraduate, Cuban opened and ran a local bar and took dance lessons for extra money.

“I’ve been watching the team I grew up with since I was 18 [and] “To be a part of this, it’s wow. What this has given me is so much more than I could ever give to IU. If it weren’t for Indiana University, no one would know who I am,” Cuban told The Herald-Times.

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