Saban Accepts Alabama's Offer

[BamaCat86]

Fox 6 out of Birmingham is reporting that Nick Saban has accepted the Alabama job. Initial reports say he will recieve $30 million over 8 years (3.75/yr).

Tide Pride tickets are going up this year!

[RP_McMurphy]

4.75 million dollars a year for head coaches at Bama for the next four years. WOW is all one can say. Saban better produce or things will get real ugly in Bama.

[wildcatdon]

The students will pay for this in the form of tuition increases...

[FatCatDaddy]

Will this HUGE contract help Brooks out. He was making what, 850k? You think Barney was thinking maybe upping him to 1 million even? Think this will effect it and maybe get Brooks in the 1.5M range?

[boomdaddy]

After Saban stated that he needed to go home and talk to his wife, the other day, I figured it was a done deal.

[bleedbluelady]

Can you imagine his first game at Death Valley? :shock:

[Rockober]

Saban will produce imho. It may take a few years but the guy can coach. Run a front office? That's debatable. The SEC is loaded with some upper tier coaches.

I like visiting Miami myself but I wouldn't want to live there. Too much like LA imo. Nothing against the place but I just like a uglier more realistic society. This means I fit in much better.:ggrin:

[Wildcat Larry]

The real question is ..... how long will the honeymoon last with the Bama faithful? :shock::shrug:

[Stretch]

It is ludicrous to pay a COLLEGE football coach $4 million per year when the majority of the academic faculty is barely making a living, the science labs are in need of new equipment and classroom/dormitory space is sorely lacking. And don't tell me that the boosters will foot Saban's bill; you can only go to the well with your donors so many times and if they give it all to athletics, there is nothing left for academics.

[ukfanman]

Stretch wrote: It is ludicrous to pay a COLLEGE football coach $4 million per year when the majority of the academic faculty is barely making a living, the science labs are in need of new equipment and classroom/dormitory space is sorely lacking. And don't tell me that the boosters will foot Saban's bill; you can only go to the well with your donors so many times and if they give it all to athletics, there is nothing left for academics.


I am convinced that the only reason the University of Alabama exists is not for education, but only to play football. Everything else is secondary.:shock:

I can assure you that right nowmore Bama boosters are sucking up to Saban with open checkbooks than there are waiting to contribute to education.

[UK78ALUM]

It is ludicrous to pay a COLLEGE football coach $4 million per year when the majority of the academic faculty is barely making a living,

You can't be serious! How does this look for "barely making a living"? The table below is in $K

U of Kentucky (Ky., category I)
Prof Assoc Prof Asst Prof Inst
2005-6 93.4 67.2 61.1 82.4
2004-5 90.0 64.1 57.7 74.2
2003-4 89.2 62.3 55.9 --
2002-3 85.9 61.3 52.9 --
2001-2 85.0 60.5 51.9 58.8
2000-1 79.6 58.5 49.4 --

But wait, there's more. The next step is to annualize the numbers - which this table failed to do. Remember that the figures above represent what is essentially an 8 month job. So, by my calculations, the annualized numbers for 2005-6 should look more like this.

U of Kentucky (Ky., category I)
Prof Assoc Prof Asst Prof Inst
2005-6 140.1 100.8 91.7 123.6

So, lets take the lowest number there, basically $92K. With all due respect, if you are having trouble living in Lexington KY on $92K, I certainly hope you're not teaching in the Gatton School of B&E! ;)


The students will pay for this in the form of tuition increases...

No. It doesn't work that way at all. Ticket prices might go up, boosters would certainly be asked to ante up again (and again), required donations to the Blue/White fund might be increased, but the operations budget for the athletic department is separate and distinct from the university as a whole - as has been discussed here several times before.

EDIT: My fault, I forgot to include the most important part, and that's the other side of the balance sheet. How much does football bring in to the individual schools? This does not include local revenue from ticket sales, etc., this is just giveback from the conference.

2005-2006 SEC Revenue Distribution http://www.secsports.com/image_lib/pixel.gif

The Southeastern Conference will distribute approximately $116.1 million to the 12 league institutions in the revenue sharing plan for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31, 2006, according to league commissioner Mike Slive.

The $116.1 million is the highest total ever distributed in SEC history and represents a 4.4 percent increase from the $110.7 million distributed to the schools in 2004-2005.

The revenue sharing plans include money generated by football television, bowls, the SEC Football Championship, basketball television, the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament and NCAA Championships.

Broken down by categories and rounded off, the $116.1 million was derived from $47.4 million from football television, $20.7 million from bowls, $13.2 million from the SEC Football Championship, $12.1 million from basketball television, $4.4 million from the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament and $18.3 million from NCAA Championships.

The average amount distributed to each school which participated in all revenue sharing was $9.68 million.

[Stretch]

Most of the university faculty I know teach year-round. They also conduct research, travel and otherwise prepare themselves. But, even if the job is truly "eight months" as you say, what would you have that ph.d.-holding assistant professor to do during the remaining portion of the year--work the counter at Wendy's?? The drive-thru at Burger King? Maybe bag groceries at Kroger?

$62K for a family of four is definitely not big money in Lexington or anywhere. And what about the message you are sending to the students when you pay the football coach (for basically FOUR months of work a year) 50 times what their valued, life-changing professors are paid?

[surveyor]

Characterizing a football coach's work as merely 4 months a year as at the least disengenuous.

Spring practice, drills, recruiting, etc. takes up quite abit more than the 4 months of spanning regular season games.

I'm not arguing, however, that teaching salaries are sufficient.

[UK78ALUM]

But, even if the job is truly "eight months" as you say, what would you have that ph.d.-holding assistant professor to do during the remaining portion of the year--work the counter at Wendy's?? The drive-thru at Burger King? Maybe bag groceries at Kroger?

Well, if I didn't have a full professor as a member of my immediate family, perhaps I'd take that bait. But under the circumstances, I'll pass. But you might want to look into what they can earn for outside consulting for example. I think you'll find it pays more than your positions shownabove.

And what about the message you are sending to the students when you pay the football coach (for basically FOUR months of work a year) 50 times what their valued, life-changing professors are paid?

Sorry, I'm perfectly OK with that message. Hopefully it will help them with their career choices. As long as we live in a free market economy, that's the way it is. But, by the way, what does a "life-changing" professor make compared with a life-saving paramedic, police officer, fire fighter or soldier? Again, it's all about choices.

[Wildcat Larry]

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20070103&Kategori=SPOR TS&Lopenr=103002&Ref=PH&Item=1&MaxW=600&MaxH=600&b order=0

[RCS]

Don't confuse professors with regular teachers. They make much more. Also, professors generally are much less 'life changing' than a HS teacher. I barely knew any of my professors. Half of them only taught 1 day a week with his assistant doing the rest. It is a supply and demand thing. The BCS brings in a whole lot of money so getting there easily pays for his salary. Also, a successful sports team helps the University's image. The last two years that Tim Duncan was at Wake Forest their application were up something like 40%. Same for George Mason this year.

The Tuna was apparently offered $3 million a year 4 years ago and I would have had zero problem with that. The same people that give to sports don't necessarily give to academics.

[Caveman Catfan]

UK78ALUM wrote: And what about the message you are sending to the students when you pay the football coach (for basically FOUR months of work a year) 50 times what their valued, life-changing professors are paid?

Sorry, I'm perfectly OK with that message. Hopefully it will help them with their career choices. As long as we live in a free market economy, that's the way it is. But, by the way, what does a "life-changing" professor make compared with a life-saving paramedic, police officer, fire fighter or soldier? Again, it's all about choices.


I agree. Welcome to the real world. Entertainment, for the select few who truly succeed, is far more profitable than most jobs in this country. Why send a fictitious message to students?