Nick Saban, Alabama Agree to $93.6M Contract to Make Him Highest-Paid Coach in CFB

Alabama's Nick Saban is the latest college football coach to benefit from the spending frenzy across the sport.

According to The Athletic's Aaron Suttles, Alabama's board of trustees approved a new eight-year contract for Saban worth $93.6 million. His average salary of $11.7 million will make him the highest-paid college football coach in the country.

When Texas A&M gave Jimbo Fisher $75 million guaranteed in 2017, it was a sign of where coaching salaries were headed.

But Mel Tucker's 10-year, $95 million extension with Michigan State represented a potential paradigm shift. No longer are exorbitant deals reserved for traditional blue bloods with the deepest pockets.

There was bound to be a domino effect for coaches already signed to lucrative contracts, too.

Ryan Day and Ohio State agreed to an extension that increased his annual earnings from $7.6 million to $9.5 million. On the heels of winning a national title, Kirby Smart got $112.5 million over 10 years from Georgia.

Saban was likely to follow suit.

The 70-year-old is arguably the greatest college football coach ever and hasn't shown signs of slowing down. He has guided Alabama to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in six of the last seven years. The Crimson Tide haven't lost more than two games in a season since 2010.

Saban already tried the NFL once and returned to college after two years. That door is almost certainly closed, and there isn't another program that can match what he has now at Alabama.

Even though the odds of Saban leaving Tuscaloosa were slim, Tuesday's news indicates he still had plenty of leverage when it came to angling for a pay raise.