Alabama raised some eyebrows earlier in the offseason when it gave head coach Kalen DeBoer a contract extension that pays him $12.5 million annually. Among those to take notice was previous head coach Nick Saban.
Saban, who won six national championships for Alabama, never saw his annual salary get that high, but that doesn’t mean he’s upset with DeBoer. Instead, it’s about keeping DeBoer happy in Tuscaloosa.
“Look, I think coaching is a competitive field, just like playing is a competitive field, and I think Kalen’s had a lot of opportunities (elsewhere) and if Alabama wanted to keep him, they needed to do what they needed to do to keep him,” Saban said, via Colin Gay of the Tuscaloosa News.
“I’m happy that he’s the coach. And I think when coaches change (schools) now, how much does your roster change? When I retired (in 2024), 26 players (transferred), which was hard for the next coach, whoever it was, to overcome. And I think they’ve done a pretty good job with that transition.”
Toward the end of the 2025 season, there were rumors that DeBoer could be on the move to Michigan. That never happened, but it was enough to get Alabama to pay up to keep him around.
