College football’s top 25 highest-paid coaches for 2020 season

2. Nick Saban – Alabama

• 2020 Salary: $9.1 million

What do we need to say about Saban that you don’t already know? He’s been with Alabama since 2007 and won five National Championships as the Crimson Tide head coach. They are perennial favorites with Saban at the helm. It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is (would you like Greg McElroy, Jake Coker or Tua Tagovailoa, all of which who won National Championships).

Saban might be the best recruiter in college football history. In the past 10 years, he’s had the number one or number two recruiting class nine times. That’s insane. His worst year is 2018, where he was ranked fifth according to 247Sports. Overall, that year was a dud with his best recruit Eyabi Anoma now in the NCAA transfer portal for the second time in a year (he was dismissed by Houston).

Either way, the point is Saban finds a way for elite talent and players who can pick from any college in the country to go to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a city of 90,000 people. Only 36 percent of that population has a Bachelor’s Degree many in the town are hoping to get. Yet, Saban gets players downright excited to come there.

Winning costs money, and the Crimson Tide win more than anyone else. They are constantly in the title picture, and that’s why Saban is making more than $9 million per season. He’s 68 years old and is signed through 2025. Will he coach beyond that?