Every time the University of Alabama rewards Nick Saban a new contract, critics emerge from the deepest and darkest depths of Twitter to declare that the seven-time national champion is overpaid.
This notion is divorced from reality. One could even formulate a valid argument that Saban is grossly underpaid, which is likely a correct assertion.
As an academic institution, the University of Alabama is best known for its excellence in business. If any institution of higher learning understands business value and economic impact, it’s The Capstone.
On Tuesday, the UA System board of trustees’ compensation committee gave its seal of approval on Saban’s new deal that extends his presence in Tuscaloosa until 2030. The new contract holds an overall value of $93.6 million, which leaves the Crimson Tide head coach making on average $11.7 million annually.
Saban is now once again the highest-paid coach in the game, and deservedly so.
Whether it was to cause a stir, or to actually take issue with the pay raise, Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter for Action Network, decided to compare Saban’s per-day salary to UA’s yearly in-state tuition costs.
$26,326: In-state student tuition, room & board at University of Alabama for the 2022-23 school year.
$29,315: What Alabama football coach Nick Saban gets paid PER DAY this season.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 23, 2022
In response to the figures cited by Rovell, Aaron Suttles, an Alabama beat writer for The Athletic, decided to tweet a few numbers of his own.
Are we still doing this? After 15 years?
*6 nattys
*8 SEC championships
*Enrollment rose from 23,878 to 38,320
*A $9.6 million surplus for athletics in 2021The Univ. of Alabama, and every school that knows how to read a balance sheet, would make that investment every time. https://t.co/4OJHf0oebi
— Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) August 23, 2022
Notice Suttles’ use of the word “investment.”
If a day trader opted to purchase 1,000 shares of company stock valued at $500 per share, the overall worth of the purchase would be $500,000 — an incredibly hefty buy.
Should the price of that stock rise 60% from its original value, the trader would be pleased with that investment. If the stock is viewed as non-volatile, why not continue to buy more?
The same logic can be applied to Saban’s ever-increasing salary. As Suttles cites, UA’s enrollment numbers skyrocketed over the past 15 years since Saban took up residency in Tuscaloosa, increasing by more than 60% in that timeframe.
Aside from posting an astounding 183-25 record and racking up a combined total of 14 SEC and national championship rings as the Crimson Tide’s head coach, Saban has clearly illustrated his worth as evidenced by the university’s athletics department seeing a $9.6 million surplus in 2021.
Investments are meant to return profit. At the time that UA signed Saban to an eight-year, $32 million contract in 2006, the deal sent shockwaves throughout the college football landscape.
The return on investment UA has experienced since hiring Saban proves that he is worth every penny the university has paid him, and will continue to pay him until 2030.
Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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