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Nick Saban has signed a three-year extension with the University of Alabama that will keep him at the school until at least the 2025 season when he will be 73 years old, the school announced on Tuesday.According to reports, the deal will also once again elevate Saban to the status of highest-paid college football coach and his 2017 earnings will be the highest in the history of college sports.
Saban will make $11.125 million in 2017, according to Steve Berkowitz of the USA Today, including a $4 million signing bonus. On top of that, Saban can earn up to $700,000 annually in incentive bonuses.
And it doesn't stop there.
According to the New York Times, Saban's ten assistant coaches will make a combined $6.5 million in 2017, bringing the entire payroll for the coaches alone to $17.7 million.
Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will make the most with a $1.3 million salary that will grow by $100,000 each of the next two years. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll will make $1.2 million and outside linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi received a $400,000 pay raise to $950,000.
Lupoi's salary would rank 73rd among 119 FBS head coaches, according to the USA Today.
Saban replaces Michigan's Jim Harbaugh as the highest-paid college football coach. Harbaugh made $9 million in 2016, including $2 million in the form of an insurance-premium payment by the school on a life insurance policy in Harbaugh's name.
For highly successful coaches like Saban it can be difficult to determine their entire compensation. For example, shortly after flirting with the University of Texas in 2014, Saban got a new deal with Alabama and also had the $3 million mortgage on his house paid off by a foundation backed by University of Alabama boosters.