Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Alabama

Greg Byrne defends Alabama awarding Kalen DeBoer, Nate Oats massive raises

Byington mugby: Alex Byington04/23/26_AlexByington

Alabama’s Board of Regents rubberstamped new contracts or extensions for more than 15 members of its football and men’s basketball programs on Wednesday. That included significant raises for head coaches Kalen DeBoer and Nate Oats that placed both among the top six highest-paid in their respective sports.

DeBoer, who is entering his third season leading the Crimson Tide football team after replacing legendary head coach Nick Saban in 2024, received a seven-year extension that boosted his annual salary to $12.5 million, which placed him fifth nationally. DeBoer’s raise came after his name was repeatedly mentioned in connection with several openings during last season’s coaching carousel, including Michigan.

Meanwhile, Oats will now earn an average salary of $7.25 million as part of a multi-year extension that will keep him in Tuscaloosa through the 2032 season. Oats’ new annual salary ranks him sixth nationally, just behind Arizona‘s Tommy Lloyd‘s $7.5 million as part of a raise he received earlier this month after being connected to the North Carolina opening in the midst of last season’s Final Four run.

On Thursday, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne defended the decision to hand out significant salary bumps to multiple Crimson Tide head coaches amid public scrutiny. In fact, Byrne suggested the specific raises were the result of extensive research into each sport’s coaching marketplace.

“Absolutely, it is a significant investment by our department, by our university, and it’s something that we spent a lot of time and research on making sure we’re competitive in the marketplace, and at the same time making sure we have the right people in these positions,” Byrne told Next Round Live on Thursday morning. “I know I’ve spoken to President (Peter) Mohler about this and our trustees about this, the importance of stability during the time we’re in right now, and we believe this gives us an opportunity to do that with the men and women that are leading our programs.”

While both deals were expected, DeBoer’s significant $2 million salary boost raised some eyebrows around the college football world. That included ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.

“One thing that happens when you put out a contract like this — which, I think most people question —you just ratchet up the pressure on the coach,” Finebaum said during Wednesday’s The Paul Finebaum Show. “Everybody roots for people to do well, but when you’ve lost eight games over two years and you’re rewarded by getting a $2 million a year raise to $12.5 million — most of us look at that and go ‘Huh, for what?’”

Oats is fresh off Alabama’s fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance and fifth in his seven seasons in Tuscaloosa, an unprecedented run for the Crimson Tide men’s basketball team. During that time, Oats is 170-73 overall and 87-38 in conference play.

Meanwhile, DeBoer is 20-8 overall and 12-4 in SEC play across his first two seasons in Tuscaloosa. But for an Alabama program that lost three or more games just twice in 17 seasons under Saban, back-to-back four-loss campaigns have some fans up in arms. Of course, some of that could be recency bias after the Crimson Tide’s 2025 season ended on a hard-to-swallow 38-3 loss to eventual national champion Indiana in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.