The Athletic Director at the University of Alabama has called head football coach Nick Saban ‘the best investment this University has ever made’. A pretty bold statement for a school that has been open for over 180 years.
But the numbers bare him out, and evidently the board of trustees agrees because they have just given coach Saban a hefty raise and a nice compensation package to boot. Nick Saban now becomes the highest paid coach, in any sport, at any public university in America.
Starting this football season, Saban will be receiving $6,900,000 per year from the University in salary. That’s about a half a million bucks per football game. Not a bad payday. Of course a head coaching job at a major university is a year round job, but still.
Saban also received a two year contract extension which will take him through January 31, 2022 along with his $1.4 million per year pay increase. So don’t look for Nick Saban to be jumping to the NFL anytime soon as he will be receiving a $400,000 bonus for each year that he sticks around Tuscaloosa.
And it is very doubtful that the University of Alabama will be firing Nick Saban anytime soon since it would cost them a cool $23,266,668. In other words, it ain’t happening.
Nick Saban took the job at Alabama after a miserable year attempting to coach the Miami Dolphins. Previously he had a successful run with the LSU Tigers before taking his shot at the pros. In 2009 Saban took the job with the Crimson Tide for a mere $3,900,000. They bumped him up to almost six million in 2010 and he stayed right around that figure up until last week.
Nick Saban has taken a lot of heat throughout his career from the press and public as well for being a bit cold hearted. He has gotten better at it over the years, but Nick’s public demeanor can be a little grating at times. He tends to be impatient with questions and goes directly to the bone with his answers. This has not endeared him with many even in the SEC where his name is still not a very popular one.
But Saban does indeed have a heart. Each year he donates a million dollar scholarship pledge to the University. As part of his new deal, the school now picks up $100,000 of that yearly tab. It’s a nice sharing gesture on Saban’s part.
