By Zac Al-Khateeb, USA TODAY NETWORK
Nick Saban has made quite the career out of football. The Alabama football legend, who shocked the college football world on Wednesday with news of his retirement, has for quite some time enjoyed a status as one of the sport’s highest-paid head coaches.
As the business of college football grew bigger and bigger, so too did Saban’s recurring contract extensions and annual salaries. In 2023, once again, Saban was the best-paid coach in the sport, boasting an $11.1 million salary for the college football season that dwarfed his closest contemporary, Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($10.8 million). It was part of a contract that went into effect in 2022 and which was set to run through Feb. 28, 2030.
Saban’s contract, of course, will no longer be a talking point in upcoming college football seasons. But his retirement, this early into his most recent extension, does raise the question: How much has Saban made working for Alabama? And how much is he leaving on the table by stepping away from the game?
Here’s all you need to know of Saban’s net worth, contract details and more:
Nick Saban contract details
Saban in August 2022 signed an eight-year contract extension that ran through February 2030. The extension, valued at roughly $93.6 million at the time of his signing, would also have seen him make $12.7 million for the 2029 season in base salary and talent fee.
It also made him the highest-paid coach in college football for the 2022 and 2023 college football seasons. He made $10.695 million and (assuming he is paid through the remainder of the contract year) $11.1 million, respectively.
Saban was scheduled to have made another $71.8 million over the remaining six years of his contract.
REQUIRED READING: Alabama football coaching search: 5 candidates to replace Nick Saban
Nick Saban net worth
It is impossible to know Saban’s true monetary net worth, which aside from his contracts at Alabama and previous head-coaching stops also include endorsement deals and business dealings outside his role as the Crimson Tide’s coach. However, it is possible to glean the amount of money he made while as head coach at Alabama:
Saban will have been paid a little more than $121 million in basic annual compensation over his 17-year career at Alabama. Over the past 10 years, he will have been paid another $6 million in contractual bonuses.
USA TODAY Sports Projects reporter Steve Berkowitz contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban contract money: How much will retiring cost Alabama coach?