On the eve of the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, Auburn announced they were buying into Gus Malzahn following one season as the head coach. Malzahn had his contract extended and that was accompanied by a raise after guiding Auburn from a 3-win team to an 11-1 regular season in his first season on the job.
Malzahn’s contract was given a six-year extension, according to Auburn’s Director of Athletics Jay Jacobs.
“As I’ve said before, we want Coach Malzahn to be at Auburn for a long time,” Jacobs said.
“The new contract includes a raise and extension and is our statement that Auburn is committed to Coach Malzahn for the long haul. While this season has been remarkable, I’m equally excited about the future of our program under his leadership. The future of Auburn football is very bright.”
According to the release put out by the university, Malzahn will receive an annual salary fo $3.85 million in 2014, with subsequent $250,000 raises each year.
The contract extension increases Malzahn’s annual salary to $3.85 million next year with a $250,000 increase for each subsequent year. Auburn is clearly dedicated to Malzahn being their head coach. By offering this extension and raise, Malzahn is not likely to be pursued by any other program in need of a head coach anytime soon, nor would there be much of a financial incentive to consider leaving for another job. Whether or not Malzahn would have considered leaving Auburn is a question nobody knows the answer to for sure, but with the future at Texas in question, Malzahn was considered a potential candidate if a vacancy should be available.
This is fantastic news for Auburn, but Malzahn still only has two years of head coaching experience behind him, so over time it could be a bit of a risk. But win on Saturday and Auburn fans will consider it worth every penny.