Nick Saban regains status as college football's top-paid coach after extending Alabama contract
Nick Saban's stint as the second-highest paid public-school coach did not last long.
The compensation committee for the Alabama System Board of Trustees voted in approval of a new contract for the Alabama football coach Tuesday that extends him one more year through the 2029 season and ends on Feb. 28, 2030. Saban will make $10.695 million in 2022 in base salary, talent fee and completion benefit. That does not include incentive bonuses.
That's an increase from $9.9 million that Saban was set to make this season.
By the 2029 season, Saban is set to make $12.7 million in his new deal in base salary and talent fee. In that season, Georgia coach Kirby Smart is set to make $11.75 million.
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Smart had been the nation's highest-paid public-school coach after receiving a contract extension earlier this summer, leapfrogging over Saban after the Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide in the 2022 College Football Playoff. Then Tuesday, Saban moved back ahead. Smart's deal runs through Dec. 31, 2031.
Saban is the latest coach to get a new contract this offseason, along with the likes of Smart, Ryan Day at Ohio State ($9.5 million in 2022), LSU hiring Brian Kelly ($9.5 million) and Mel Tucker at Michigan State ($9.5 million). Contracts for coaches at private schools such as Southern Cal's Lincoln Riley and Miami's Mario Cristobal are not available through open records requests because of the status of their universities.
Saban's contract stipulates that he and/or his representation meet with Byrne every February to look at marketplace trends. If his total guaranteed annual compensation is less than the average of the three highest-paid SEC football coaches or the five highest-paid NCAA coaches, Alabama would increase his compensation to the higher of the two averages.
"We want to make sure coach Saban and Miss Terry are very happy with our level of support," Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne told The Tuscaloosa News in June. "That has been the case in the past, and that will be the case in the future. So we have ongoing conversations to make sure that’s appropriate."
Highest paid public school football coaches in annual compensation for 2022 season
Nick Saban, Alabama: $10.695 million
Kirby Smart, Georgia: $10.25 million
Brian Kelly, LSU: $9.5 million
Mel Tucker, Michigan State: $9.5 million
Ryan Day, Ohio State: $9.5 million*
Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: $9 million
James Franklin, Penn State: $8.5 million
Dabo Swinney, Clemson: $8.5 million
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan: $8.05 million
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: $7.5 million
Lane Kiffin, Mississippi: $7.25 million
Billy Napier, Florida: $7.1 million
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa: $7 million
Brent Venables, Oklahoma: $7 million
Mark Stoops, Kentucky: $6.75 million
Source: Documents from school obtained through public-records requests.
*Annualized rate that took effect July 1.
USA TODAY's Steve Berkowitz contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama's Nick Saban is college football's highest-paid coach again
