How Working Under Nick Saban can Pay off, Ask Smart & Kiffin

The instantaneous bigger paycheck is what many of Nick Saban’s previous assistants at the University of Alabama have craved, and it hasn’t necessarily paid dividends long-term. Many of Saban’s assistants have traditionally left after being under his tutelage for only a few seasons at most. One that stayed and is getting his dividends paid off is University of Georgia Head Coach, Kirby Smart.

Mike Locksley – Locksley spent time under Nick Saban for three seasons from 2016-2018, and only one as the Offensive Coordinator. After winning two games in two and a half seasons as a Head Coach at the University of New Mexico, Locksley was fired in 2011. Instead of staying under Saban and learning for longer, Locksley took the leap of faith as many seem to and accepted the head coaching position at the University of Maryland. Locksley has improved every season so far at Maryland, with his last and best only being an 8-5 campaign in his fourth at the school. Locksley’s contract is worth an average of $6.1 million per year.

Jeremy Pruitt – Pruitt served under Saban as Alabama’s Defensive Coordinator for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Despite serving as a coach for the Crimson Tide in lesser roles from 2007-2012, the positions with which he was “second-in-command” and had the most duties have to inarguably be the two years he spent as Defensive Coordinator. Pruitt departed to take over as Head Coach at the University of Tennessee where he lasted three seasons before he was fired after the 2020 season off of a 3-7 campaign. Pruitt’s salary was roughly $3.8 million per year during his time at Tennessee. He is now unemployed seeking his next coaching opportunity.

Doug Nussmeier – Nussmeier served as Saban’s Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Alabama for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Since then, Nussmeier has bounced around as an Assistant Coach at five different places between the NFL and the NCAA.

Josh Gattis – Gattis served as Alabama’s Co-Offensive Coordinator in 2018 and departed Alabama for Michigan after one season. Gattis has served as Offensive Coordinator at three schools since leaving Alabama.

Between the four coaches mentioned, they amassed eight seasons in total in coordinator roles under Nick Saban at Alabama: that’s an average of two seasons per coach. This begs the question whether or not these more-notable assistants would’ve been better served staying longer under Nick Saban. Two known examples below point to yes:

Working under Alabama head coach Nick Saban can pay off

Lane Kiffin – Kiffin served as Alabama’s Offensive Coordinator for three seasons from 2014-2016. This three-year stint arguable helped to propel Kiffin to his current head coaching position with the Ole Miss Rebels where he’s been since 2020. Before that, Kiffin continued to re-build his reputation serving as the Head Coach at Florida Atlantic University and leading them to two Conference USA titles in 2017 and 2019. Currently at Ole Miss, Kiffin has a 23-13 record going into his fourth season at the school. Kiffin makes roughly $7.25 million per year.

Kirby Smart – In his first seven years as Head Coach at the University of Georgia, Smart has amassed an impressive overall record of 81-15, including two national championships in 2021 and 2022. Unquestionably, Smart has had the most success of any previous head or assistant coach that worked under Nick Saban. With that being said, it’s more than note-worthy that Smart also spent the longest time under Saban out of any of his offensive or defensive coordinators. Smart was the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Backs Coach at Alabama in 2007 and was then promoted to Defensive coordinator in 2008 where he coached the Tide until 2015 before taking the head coaching position at Georgia. Smart’s average salary is $11.25 million per year.

It’s not difficult to do the math and see the correlation between tenure and larger paychecks as it relates to coaches and the amount of time they spent as an assistant under Nick Saban. Coaches like Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart realized this. And the proof is in the salary and their records that it’s paying dividends for them and should last long-term.