Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who’s won four titles at the University of Alabama in the last eight years, has signed a new contract extension that will pay him $11.12 million this season. The total value of the contract extension was $65 million.
The eight-year extension, which runs through January 31, 2025, includes a $4 million signing bonus. With the extension, Saban surpassed University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is set to make $7 million for the upcoming season and $7.5 million for the 2018 season, with a record-breaking contract.
The $11 million annual salary makes Nick Saban the highest-paid coach in college football, the highest-paid of any college sports coach, and likely the highest-paid coach in American sports.
Via USA Today:
The $11.125 million that Saban is set to receive for this season likely makes him one of the nation’s most highly paid public employees — if not the highest-paid.
Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was credited with nearly $9.7 million in total compensation the 2011 calendar year, including bonuses and the value of all perks, according to the school’s federal tax returns, although $775,000 of that amount was deferred compensation that had been reported on prior years’ returns.
Within higher-education, there is perhaps one comparable situation to Saban’s — that of former Yale president Richard Levin. In 2015, when the school released its federal tax return that included pay data for the 2013 calendar year, Levin was listed as having received a total of more than $9.6 million. Just over $8.5 million of that was in the form of a special lump-sum retirement payment after his 20 years in the job ended June 30, 2013.
However, that is not to say that Saban isn’t worth it. The 65-year-old coach led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003, and the Alabama to BCS Championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and the College Football Playoff championship in 2015.
Along with Bear Bryant, Saban is the only coach in history to win SEC Championship at two different schools.
