There Are Limits To What Alabama Can Pay Nick Saban To Stay

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There is growing speculation that Texas head coach Mack Brown will resign following the Longhorns' final game against Baylor on Saturday and that the school will make a run at Alabama head coach Nick Saban to be its next football coach.

But can Alabama simply match any offer Texas makes? Maybe not.

Based on Alabama's 2012 athletic department revenue of $124.1 million (including donations), 4.5% of the school's entire athletic department budget goes to Saban's $5.55 million salary. That's a big chunk.

At the same time, the Texas athletic department brought in $163.3 million. If Texas offered Saban 4.5% of its revenue, it can give him a salary of $7.3 million per year, a raise of more than 30%.

In order for Alabama to match and pay Saban $7.3 million per year, it would have to increase its commitment to Saban to 5.9% of the entire budget. We may find out if that is reasonable for Alabama or too much.

Their is no doubt that college football is a money-making machine at big schools and the biggest benefactors are the head coaches. But the schools still have a finite amount of resources and Alabama's vault is smaller than the one at Texas.