Alabama football program earning wins and money

Alabama football program earning wins and money

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama coach Nick Saban made a cool $125,000 by beating Florida on Saturday, and the next one would be worth more.
Per terms of his initial contract, Saban would receive an additional $200,000 if the Crimson Tide defeats Texas in the BCS national championship game.
Top-ranked Alabama (13-0) will face No. 2 Texas (13-0) the night of Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif. It is the Crimson Tide’s first opportunity to play for a national championship since 1992.
The success comes three seasons after Alabama broke records at the time by hiring Saban to an eight-year contract worth $32 million. The gamble has paid off, though. Despite a recession that has left thousands of fans unemployed, federal records show Alabama football turned a profit of more than $38 million in the last academic year. That’s an almost 40 percent gain from the year before Saban was hired in 2007.
“I just felt the hire was so crucial,” UA athletic director Mal Moore said after Saturday’s SEC championship game. “We needed to hire someone that had accomplished and won a national championship to give us the opportunity to get back.
“It takes a lot of people, a lot of people helping in a lot of ways. (We’ve had) great support from our fans who hung in there through some really tough times, and I’m proud for them.”
Saban signed a three-year extension earlier this year that brings his average compensation to $4.7 million annually should he stay through the contract’s expiration in January 2018. New terms included the formation of a $5 million “Contract Year Completion Benefit” clause that is to pay Saban a lump sum amount beyond his salary at three different times if he is still coaching the Crimson Tide. He would be due an additional $1.6 million in January 2012, $1.7 million in January 2015 and $1.7 million more in January 2018.
He was set to make a total of $3,900,000 in 2009, but has already received a bonus of $350,000 for accomplishments to date, bringing that figure currently to $4,250,000.

AL.com
12/10/9