Nick Saban Gets New Deal To Make Him Highest Paid Coach in College Sports

By Ross Kelly July 28, 2018 at 4:40pm

During SEC Media Day, Nick Saban was asked how long he plans on coaching and responded by saying, “Miss Terry does not want me at home.”

It was a vague answer to the question and no one knows how long Saban will stay on the sidelines, but the University of Alabama is doing everything it can to appease Saban’s wife Miss Terry by keeping Saban away from home.

The university announced Friday that it had agreed to a contract extension with Saban through the 2025 season, during which he will turn 74.

“Our family is thrilled to agree to a contract extension with The University of Alabama that will keep us in Tuscaloosa for the rest of our coaching career,” Saban said in a statement released by the university. “For Terry and me, the Tuscaloosa community and the state of Alabama have become home, and a place with deep roots for our entire family.

“We are very excited about the future, and this agreement allows us to continue to build on the success we have enjoyed at Alabama — both on and off the football field.”

Saban’s old deal was through the 2024 season, so the new contract only extends that one year, but he also gets a raise on the life of the deal that makes him the highest-paid coach in all of college sports.

The deal is worth at least $74.4 million, with an average annual value of $9.3 million per season.

For the 2018 season, Saban will make $8.3 million in salary alone before he reaches any bonuses or incentives. No other college football coach makes even $8 million, with Ohio State’s Urban Meyer the closest at $7.6 million.

Already the highest-paid public employee in the United States, Saban tops coaches from all other college sports in terms of salary. He also tops all but one NFL head coach, as only Jon Gruden’s $10 million salary beats Saban’s.

Will Nick Saban stick around for the entire contract and coach through the 2025 season?

This is the third year in a row that Alabama has reworked Saban’s contract and, coincidentally, he’s come off a CFP National Championship Game appearance each time.

He recently won his fifth national championship at Alabama, and his sixth overall, to tie him with Bear Bryant for most national championships by a coach in the modern era.

“We are so fortunate to have the best football coach in the country here at Alabama in Coach Saban, and we are very pleased that he has agreed to another contract extension,” athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement. “What this program has accomplished under him over the past decade is truly remarkable, and it goes well beyond the five national championships.”

Saban has a 132-20 record over his 11 seasons at Alabama, while only two other programs (Ohio State and Boise State) have won at least 117 games in that span.

His impact also goes beyond college football as Alabama has, once again, become a football factory for the NFL.

A total of 77 of his Crimson Tide players have gone on to be selected in the NFL Draft, with 26 of those being first-round picks.

This past season there were 49 former Alabama players on NFL rosters — the third-highest total of any school, trailing only Florida (57) and LSU (55).

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