Nick Saban has a new contract. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
In what has become a yearly ritual, Alabama’s board of trustees approved a new deal for Saban that runs through February 2030. Over the course of that deal, he will make an average of $11.7 million per year. (Well, at least until this deal is torn up and a new one is put in place 18 months from now.)
Earlier this offseason, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart signed a contract that would pay him an average of $11.2 million per season. Saban, who is now 70 years old, is once again the highest paid coach in the sport. And he’s still an absolute bargain.
I have written this column, or something like it, over the years. Those words came long before the coaching market flipped on its axis. Saban was a steal at $4 million, $7 million, $10 million and certainly now.