By Jess Nicholas, TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief
Dec. 13, 2013
Alabama and head coach Nick Saban formally announced a contract extension Friday that will keep Saban in Tuscaloosa until the end of his career, the coach announced.
“This agreement allows us to continue to build on the tremendous success that we have enjoyed to this point, successes that have transcended the football field,” said Saban in a statement released by the school. “We are excited about the future and the University of Alabama is where I plan to end my coaching career.”
Specific terms were not announced, but sources told TideFans.com that the deal is expected to run through at least the 2021 season. As reported last week, Saban is also expected to get a “significant” raise in his annual salary from its current level of $5.5 million. Originally, TideFans.com was told the number would be around $6.5 million per year, but negotiations had not been finalized at that time.
With Friday’s announcement, Saban and Alabama put to rest a bevy of stories, most of which originated from the state of Texas, that would have had Saban replacing Mack Brown as the head coach of the University of Texas program. Many of those same reports stated Brown would announce his retirement this week, but as of Friday, Brown was still the head coach at Texas. While Texas never made a formal offer to Saban directly, representatives of the Texas program were rumored to have proposed a contract with an annual salary of somewhere between $7 million and $10 million.
Alabama’s board of trustees must give final approval to Saban’s new contract, although such approval is virtually assured.
Continue to monitor TideFans.com for updates to this story.
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