Move over, Jim Harbaugh.
Last season, the Michigan Man was the highest-paid head coach in coach in college at $9 million, with that number inflated in large part by $2 million in deferred compensation. As we noted earlier today, the Alabama board of trustees was set to approve a new contract for Nick Saban; the board did just that Tuesday morning, and it’s a doozy of a new deal.
The university has announced that Saban has agreed to an eight-year contract extension that has him signed through the 2024 season. In October of that year, Saban will turn 73 years old.
In addition to the additional years -- his old contract, last adjusted in 2014, was set to run through 2021 -- Saban will receive a significant financial bump. Last year, Saban made $6.9 million; this year, he’ll pull in a cool $11.125 million for the 2017 season alone, with $4 million of that compensation coming in the form of a signing bonus. Per the university’s release, "[t]here will [also]... be an additional $4 million spread out through the 2020 (10 percent), 2021 (10 percent) and 2022 (80 percent) years of the contract” should Saban remain at the school and hasn’t retired or moved on.
Even without the seven-figure signing bonus, Saban would still be the highest-paid head coach in college football as Harbaugh is set to make an even $7 million this season. That figure jumps to $7.5 million in 2018.
All told, the eight-year deal would pay Saban a total of just north of $65 million, an average of just over $8.1 million annually. That total doesn’t include performance bonuses, either.
His base salary for each year of the deal will be $6.75 million
“Terry and I are pleased and happy to agree to the contract extension The University of Alabama has offered us, ensuring our time here in Tuscaloosa will continue for many more years,” Saban said in a statement. “This has become our home and we are looking forward to finishing our career at Alabama.
“I want to thank President Bell, Greg Byrne, our athletic administration, football staff and the entire University community for all of their support, which has been instrumental in the success of our organization. We are extremely proud of the young men who have represented the Crimson Tide on the football field, and more importantly, what they have been able to accomplish in their lives off the field because of their involvement in our program.”
Saban’s nine on-field assistants also received new contracts. Of note is outside linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi, who will make $950,000 as, again, an outside linebackers coach. To put that into perspective, only 13 Power Five coordinators -- out of the 65 P5 programs and 140-plus offensive-defensive coordinators -- made more than that during the 2016 season. To put a finer point on it, 46 FBS head coaches listed in the USA Today database didn’t make that much last season.