Alabama Football: Steve Sarkisian deserves every cent of new salary

Alabama football’s Steve Sarkisian just earned a significant pay raise.

It’s that time of year again for contracts to be decided for the Alabama football program. A part of that new announcements this year included a raise for Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian is entering his second season as the offensive coordinator. He just earned a raise of $850,000 and will make $2.5 million in 2020.

This in an absurd amount of money. Some coordinators make far less than $850,000, and Sarkisian just saw that as an increase in his salary. However, he’s worth that raise. He’s worth every penny that Alabama can throw at him in 2020. Here’s why.

Why Sarkisian earned his raise with Alabama football.

You can point to the data and see why Sarkisian needed to be retained. Alabama’s offense was one of the best in the country in 2020. Even after Tua went down with an injury, the Tide averaged almost 49 points a game over their final three appearances. Some of that scoring was thanks to special teams, but give credit where it’s due. Sarkisian helped the team pivot and excel through an impossible hardship.

Also, Sarkisian will be vital for the development of Bryce Young. he played a crucial role in his recruitment, and their chemistry is very valuable. As Alabama football grooms Bryce Young to be the face of the program, Sarkisian will put him in the best situation to succeed.

It’s also valuable to have a coordinator who is good enough to be a head coach. Alabama’s best coordinators stayed at the program for a while before taking the perfect head coaching job. Sarkisian is doing a similar thing. It takes a premium price to retain coordinators that talented, and that’s what the Crimson Tide just paid.

Now, I know that there is a debate right now about salaries for college coaches. It is a fair criticism to say that this money should go towards plenty of other things. They could itemize this money for other sports, for players, or for the university to get through everything that is currently happening. I’m not going to say that this is the wrong stance to take about these issues. However, the current system dictates that great coordinators get paid an arm and a leg. As long as the market demands that price, Alabama is going to pay it.

Steve Sarkisian has worked his way back up the coaching ladder thanks to the mentorship of Nick Saban. He has done everything right since coming back to Tuscaloosa, and he has earned this raise.