Saban’s huge new Alabama contract will set record

Alabama head coach Nick Saban Gary Cosby Jr. via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Nick Saban’s huge new Alabama contract will set a record

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated 8/2/21

Alabama announced the terms of Nick Saban’s new contract at the school, and the numbers are unsurprisingly eye-popping.

While Saban’s base salary remains the same, the Alabama coach’s talent fee got a big hike in his new extension, which runs through the 2028 season. In 2023-24, Saban will become the first college head coach to make eight figures annually when his salary jumps to $10.3 million. The final six years of the deal are all over $10 million, topping out at $11.5 million in 2028-29.

Including scheduled contract-year completion payments, this will be Saban's recurring basic pay from school (8 years, $84.8 million):
2021-22 contract year: $9.5 million.
22-23: $9.9M
23-24: $10.3M
24-25: $10.7M
25-26: $11.1M
26-27: $10.7M
27-28: $11.1M
28-29: $11.5M https://t.co/w2Wad432XQ

— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) August 2, 2021

In total, the compensation over the life of the deal lands just shy of $85 million. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney will eventually get to $10 million annually under the terms of his current deal, but it won’t happen until 2027.

If anybody deserves it, it’s Saban, who has made the Crimson Tide program a guaranteed annual contender. He’s won six national championships at Alabama, and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t add at least a couple more before this contract expires.

The 69-year-old Saban has hinted that this new contract may end up being his last. If it is, he’ll go into retirement quite secure financially.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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