Nick Saban just won his sixth college football national championship at Alabama and seventh overall (one at LSU in 2003), making him arguably the greatest coach in the sport’s history. And because of his success on the field, he’s the highest-paid coach in college football. USA Today has a list of the highest-paid college football coaches, and Saban comes in at No. 1 ahead of Ed Orgeron (LSU) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson). For the 2020 season, Saban’s base salary was $9.1 million and his total pay was $9.3 million due to charitable donation possibilities worked into his contract, according to Sporting News.
In 2018, Saban received an eight-year contract extension worth at least $74 million. The agreement runs through the 2025 season, and his contract will increase by $400,000 in each subsequent year. He signed that extension months after he led Alabama to a national championship win over Georgia.
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Saban has proved he is worth every penny as he led Alabama to an undefeated season during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We told the players that they would have to adapt or die in terms of all the things that would happen this year,” Saban said to reporters after their win over Ohio State on Monday night. “We also told them in the beginning, whoever manages these circumstances and situations and disruptions is going to be the team that had the best chance to be successful. None of the things that happened affected our team. First false positive I had, missed three days before the Georgia game. Players just didn’t skip a beat. But that was their mindset all year. Missing the Auburn game, didn’t skip a beat.”
Saban joined Alabama in 2007 and won his first national title at the school in 2009. Along with the six national championships with the Crimson Tide, Saban has won seven SEC titles and the Walter Camp Coach of the Year award twice (2008 and 2018). Since 2011, Alabama has lost no more than two games in a season.
“I think this team showed great perseverance, great resiliency,” Saban about this year’s team. “Probably the team togetherness on this team, this was kind of the ultimate team. These guys were like a high school team in terms of how they got along together, how they supported each other, how they played together, how they overcame adversity.”
