Alabama announces lengthy extension for head coach Nick Saban
It doesn’t appear Nick Saban plans on stepping away from college football anytime soon. The Alabama head coach just agreed to an eight-year extension, which runs through the 2024 season. His new deal with the school contractual ends Jan. 31, 2025.
Saban’s annual salary will remain the same but the coach does receive a $4 million dollar signing bonus for agreeing to the deal. Saban will also receive an additional $4 million spread out over the 2020-2022 seasons. Factoring in his new signing bonus, Saban will now earn $11.125 million for the 2017 season.
Saban responded to the new via a released statement from Alabama.
“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. “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.”
The 2017 season will be Saban’s 11th in Tuscaloosa. Under his guidance, the program has won 10 or more games in nine consecutive seasons. He’s won the SEC five times in Tuscaloosa and brought four national championships to Alabama’s trophy case. In the last three seasons combined, Alabama has lost only four times while winning 40 games.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne also released a statement, expressing his excitement to announce the deal.
“It is an exciting day when we can announce that the best football coach in the country has agreed to a contract extension,” said Byrne. “Before I came to Alabama, I was always impressed with Coach Saban and how he ran his program. After being here and seeing first-hand the job that he does, I’ve come away even more impressed. Coach Saban has obviously won a lot of football games and championships, but he has also done an outstanding job when it comes to academics and community service. I don’t think you can measure the positive impact he and Ms. Terry have made over the last decade. We look forward to working with them for many years to come.”