College Football

Nick Saban signing Alabama contract reportedly worth $7 million per year

No Texas for Nick Saban. Alabama's announced he's signing a multi-year deal.

By Patrick Vint Dec 13, 2013, 8:43pm EST

Nick Saban's dominant run in Tuscaloosa isn't coming to an end just yet, according to one report. After almost a year of rumors and reports, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit reports the Alabama football coach will sign a deal to stay with the Tide for multiple seasons. (Update: Alabama's announced the deal. No official terms yet, but the Tuscaloosa News' Cecil Hurt reports it's at least $7 million a year -- that's a raise of about $1.5 million a year and more than all but a few NFL coaches make.)

Breaking News....Nick Saban has agreed to a multi year contract extension to STAY at Alabama! Details to come out soon!!
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 14, 2013

Considering Mack Brown was under fire at Texas all season and meeting a new athletic director, this year's Saban-to-Texas rumors were inevitable and constant. But they were met by denials at first by both Saban and his wife, who said definitively in November that they weren't going anywhere. But Saban also denied rumors that he was taking the Alabama job back in the day, so there is some precedent here.

One Texas booster was confident the Horns could lure Saban, if Brown were out, while Saban's reportedly had a $7 million extension offered to him by Alabama for about a week now.

How legitimate is Herbstreit's report, considering he doesn't exactly break a lot of news?

Re: Kirk Herbstreit's report, remember he and Saban will be sitting next to each other during BCS coverage.
— SB Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) December 14, 2013

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Saban, who played college football at Kent State, has previously been head coach at LSU, Michigan State,Toledo and, of course, Alabama. In six seasons with the Crimson Tide, Saban compiled a 79-14 record -- 74-14 if you want to vacate forfeited wins -- with a 43-10 mark in the SEC. Under Saban, Alabama has been a double-digit win and championship creating machine, taking home three national championships, two SEC championships, and a share of four SEC West division titles.

The Tide narrowly missed out on a fifth SEC West title due to a memorable loss to Auburn in this year's Iron Bowl.

He famously left LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins in 2004, a year after winning his first national championship with the Bayou Bengals. He went 48-16 in five seasons at the helm in Baton Rouge, winning two of his four SEC championships there.

Prior to taking the head coaching position at Michigan State in 1995, Saban spent three seasons as Bill Belichick's defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. He has also served as a defensive assistant with the Houston Oilers, Michigan State, Ohio State and West Virginia, among others.