Alabama staffers rack up bonuses with national championship
It was a big season for the University of Alabama football program in 2015, as it hurdled challenge after challenge to capture conference and national championships.
The athletic department signed some big checks as a result, too.
The UA coaching staff, including head coach Nick Saban and his nine on-the-field assistant coaches, netted a total of more than $1.65 million in bonuses for the team’s SEC title and College Football Playoff national championship.
In total, UA paid out more than $2.2 million in bonuses to more than 60 athletic department staff members for the championships according to records obtained by Tidesports.com under open records law requests. The bonuses ranged from up to $525,000 to $3,000.
Saban earned $125,000 for the program’s 25th SEC championship and another $400,000 for its national championship by virtue of a 45-40 victory over Clemson, his fourth national title in his nine seasons as the Alabama head coach.
Saban was already scheduled to earn more than $7 million in salary, per his contract — more than any other college football coach in the country. His $525,000 bonus is more than 19 FBS head coaches’ yearly salaries, according to the USA Today annual coaching salaries database.
Now-departed defensive coordinator Kirby Smart also profited greatly from the wins, earning a total of $310,000 ($60,000 for the SEC championship and $250,000 for the national title). Smart earned $1.5 million in salary (not including bonuses) before accepting the Georgia head coaching staff with an annual salary of $3.75 million.
For the SEC championship, the university paid out nearly $300,000 to 20 coaches and support staff members. A total of $1.8 million was paid out to 60 employees for the national title.
“The success of our football program is the byproduct of the tremendous effort and commitment of our players, coaches and staff," UA Director of Athletics Bill Battle said. "We have a wide variety of people who are involved in making that success possible. Playing three postseason football games away from campus places unusual demands on many members of our staff, in terms of extra time, travel and effort. During the season, hosting football games is a very complex and demanding game management challenge and virtually everyone in the department is involved in some facet of those events. It is appropriate that their efforts – much of which goes above and beyond the scope of their duties – is rewarded.”
Saban and his on-the-field assistants accounted for 74 percent of the total bonuses paid by the athletic department.
Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin took home a bonus of nearly $150,000. Other assistant who received bonuses that topped $100,000 were offensive line coach Mario Cristobal ($113,300.01), defensive backs coach Mel Tucker ($110,000.01) and defensive line coach Bo Davis ($104,500.01).
Battle, the director of athletics, earned $50,000 for the national title win.
| Name | Position | SEC bonus | CFP bonus | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Nick Saban |
Head coach |
$125,000 |
$400,000 |
$525,000 |
|
Kirby Smart |
Assistant Coach |
$60,000 |
$250,000 |
$310,000 |
|
Lane Kiffin |
Assistant Coach |
$27,200 |
$122,400.01 |
$149,600.01 |
|
Mario Cristobal |
Assistant Coach |
$20,600 |
$92,700.01 |
$113,300.01 |
|
Mel Tucker |
Assistant Coach |
$20,000 |
$90,000.01 |
$110,000.01 |
|
Bo Davis |
Assistant Coach |
$19,000 |
$85,500.01 |
$104,500.01 |
|
Bobby Williams |
Assistant Coach |
$17,633.60 |
$79,351.21 |
$96,984.81 |
|
Tosh Lupoi |
Assistant Coach |
$17,000 |
$76,500.01 |
$93,500.01 |
|
Scott Cochran |
Strength coach |
$16,800 |
$75,600 |
$92,400 |
|
Burton Burns |
Assistant Coach |
$13,802 |
$62,109.01 |
$75,911.01 |
|
Billy Napier |
Assistant Coach |
$13,600 |
$61,200.01 |
$74,800.01 |
|
Bill Battle |
Athletics Director |
$0 |
$50,000 |
$50,000 |
|
Jody Wright |
Director of Player Personnel |
$6,400 |
$28,800.01 |
$35,200.01 |
|
Justin Dickens |
Director of Football Operations |
$6,180 |
$27,810 |
$33,990 |
|
Joe Pendry |
Senior Offensive Consultant |
$6,000 |
$27,000 |
$33,000 |
|
Kerry Stevenson |
Director of Player Development |
$5,562 |
$25,029 |
$30,591 |
|
Freddie Roach |
Director of Player Development |
$5,200 |
$23,400.01 |
$28,600.01 |
|
Finus Gaston |
Senior Executive Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$20,000 |
$20,000 |
|
Glenn Schumann |
Assistant Director of Player Personnel |
$3,600 |
$16,200 |
$19,800 |
|
Kevin Almond |
Executive Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$13,750 |
$13,750 |
|
Jeff Allen |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$13,328.01 |
$13,328.01 |
|
Kindal Moorehead |
*Assistant Coach |
$4,120.01 |
$8,579.90 |
$12,699.91 |
|
Sam Branch |
Senior Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$12,617.50 |
$12,617.50 |
|
Marie Robbins |
Senior Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$12,500 |
$12,500 |
|
Jeff Purinton |
Senior Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$12,083.34 |
$12,083.34 |
|
Carol Park |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$11,833.34 |
$11,833.34 |
|
Jonathan Bowling |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$11,833.34 |
$11,833.34 |
|
Doug Walker |
Senior Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$11,666.67 |
$11,666.67 |
|
Jon Dever |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$11,382.60 |
$11,382.60 |
|
Aaron Vold |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$10,724.89 |
$10,724.89 |
|
Terry Jones |
*Assistant Coach |
$0 |
$10,034.27 |
$10,034.27 |
|
Troy Finney |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$9,437.90 |
$9,437.90 |
|
Chris Besanceney |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$9,163.01 |
$9,163.01 |
|
Linda Leoni |
Administrative Assistant |
$0 |
$8,746.50 |
$8,746.50 |
|
Amy Bragg |
Sports Nutritionist |
$0 |
$8,621.18 |
$8,621.18 |
|
Judy Tanner |
Administrative Assistant |
$0 |
$8,330.01 |
$8,330.01 |
|
John Brown |
Director of Rehabilitation Services |
$0 |
$8,151.09 |
$8,151.09 |
|
Brandon Sevedge |
Director of Athletic Facilities |
$0 |
$7,913.50 |
$7,913.50 |
|
Justin Brant |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$7,913.50 |
$7,913.50 |
|
Jeff Dillman |
*Assistant Coach |
$0 |
$7,721.91 |
$7,721.91 |
|
James Ledford |
Associate Athletic Director |
$0 |
$7,663.60 |
$7,663.60 |
|
Anthony Leonard |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$7,497 |
$7,497 |
|
Harold Sexton |
IT Leadership |
$0 |
$7,080.51 |
$7,080.51 |
|
Matthew Self |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$6,826.82 |
$6,826.82 |
|
Darrell Harris |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$6,664 |
$6,664 |
|
Jeffrey Springer |
Assistant Athletic Director |
$0 |
$6,497.40 |
$6,497.40 |
|
Jennifer Gilmore |
Athletic Trainer |
$0 |
$6,480.84 |
$6,480.84 |
|
Amy Woods |
Accounting Administrator |
$0 |
$5,859.71 |
$5,859.71 |
|
Brenda Vaughn |
Director of Tide Pride |
$0 |
$5,849.51 |
$5,849.51 |
|
Josh Maxson |
Director of Athletic Communications |
$0 |
$5,831.01 |
$5,831.01 |
|
Margaret Johnson |
Director of Travel Operations |
$0 |
$5,662.73 |
$5,662.73 |
|
Jeremy Gsell |
Director of Rehabilitation Services |
$0 |
$5,581.11 |
$5,581.11 |
|
Kent Gidley |
Director of Athletic Photography |
$0 |
$5,414.50 |
$5,414.50 |
|
Steven Walker |
Assistant Director of Athletic Student Services |
$0 |
$5,266.73 |
$5,266.73 |
|
Thomas Waters |
Assistant Athletic Equipment Manager |
$0 |
$4,581.51 |
$4,581.51 |
|
Ashleigh Kimble |
Assistant Director of Player Personnel |
$0 |
$4,547.36 |
$4,547.36 |
|
Daniel Lyerly |
Director of Football Video Services |
$0 |
$4,519.67 |
$4,519.67 |
|
Ellis Ponder |
Associate Director of Football Operations |
$0 |
$4,498.20 |
$4,498.20 |
|
Brandy Moore |
Operations Coordinator |
$0 |
$4,331.61 |
$4,331.61 |
|
Asha Sowell |
Recruiting Operations Coordinator |
$0 |
$3,603.56 |
$3,603.56 |
|
Wilson Love |
*Assistant Coach |
$0 |
$3,498.60 |
$3,498.60 |
|
Aazaar Abdul-Rahim |
Assistant Director of Player Personnel |
$3,400 |
$0 |
$3,400 |
|
Mark Perschel |
Assistant Director of Video Services |
$0 |
$3,159.73 |
$3,159.73 |
|
Total |
$391,097.61 |
$1,836,414.11 |
$2,227,511.72 |