Nick Saban won’t be on Alabama’s sidelines this season, but that doesn’t mean he’s off the school’s payroll.
In a post-retirement advisory role, the legendary coach will make $500,000 a year from the program he led to six national championships. The news was first reported by the Tuscaloosa News, which obtained the information through a public records request. Saban will make $41,666 a month off 40-hour work weeks.
Saban retired after the 2023 season, his 17th season at Alabama, in which he turned the Crimson Tide into a juggernaut. At the time of his retirement, Saban was making over $9 million per season, but the base salary was just over $300,000 because of the contract’s structure.
Shortly after retiring, Saban joined ESPN as a college football analyst and participated in the network’s NFL draft coverage. He will be part of the College GameDay crew in the fall, too. He also appeared on Capitol Hill in March as part of a roundtable discussion with senators about the current landscape in college sports.
Saban is far from the first coach to continue collecting checks after retiring from the school he led to glory. Former college basketball coaches Jay Wright (Villanova) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) are among the fellow legends to take ambassador roles with the university immediately upon retiring. Krzyzewski made nearly $9 million from Duke in 2023, a year after he retired from coaching the Blue Devils.