Sugar has never been so sweet as far as LSU coach Nick Saban is concerned. LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman offered Saban a $400,000 a year raise after the Tigers Southeastern Conference championship victory over Tennessee in an attempt to retain Saban as the coach of the Tiger football team for seasons to come.
The raise will bring Saban’s annual base salary to $1.6 million per year if he agrees to the terms of the raise. Saban has agreed orally to the raise, but has yet to officially sign the document.
In two years at LSU, Saban has compiled a record of 18-7 and has propelled the Tigers into the Top 10 after inheriting a 3-8 squad in 1999. He has led the Tigers to consecutive wins in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
That success has caught the eye of many teams in the National Football League who are looking for new leadership at the head coaching position.
A total of six NFL teams have fired their head coach, and two of those have shown heavy consideration toward Saban.
For the last two months, rumors of Saban becoming the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts have circulated through the sporting world and will continue to circulate until Saban signs the new contract offered by LSU.
Saban interviewed for the Colts head-coaching job four years ago while coaching at Michigan State University, but Colts General Manager Bill Polian chose former New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Mora to control the reigns for the Colts.
After going 32-32 in four years and failing to win a playoff game, Polian fired Mora. Saban immediately became the leading candidate for the job.
NFL Coaching Carousel
In the weeks leading up to the NFL playoffs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer gave head coach Tony Dungy an order to win a playoff game. If Dungy could not meet the demand, he would be fired. In the first playoff game of the 2001 football season, the Philadelphia Eagles beat Dungy’s Bucs, 31-9, leading to his dismissal as head coach of the Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers are now on the verge of signing Bill Parcells as the new head coach.
Dungy is now the top name on the list to succeed Mora as the Colts head coach, along with New York Jets defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell. 76-year-old Hall-of-Fame coach Marv Levy also is in consideration to become the new head coach of the Colts.
At the end of a miserable 1-15 season that saw the Carolina Panthers rank last in the NFL in offense and defense, owner Jerry Richardson fired head coach George Seifert.
The Panthers have had two lengthy discussions with New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox, and have interviewed Cottrell for the head-coaching job. But a name that still circulates throughout the Panthers’ front office is Nick Saban.
After failing to lure Steve Spurrier to Washington last year, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder got his wish this year when Spurrier announced his resignation as head coach of Florida to open his options for an NFL coaching job.
Following Spurrier’s lead, Snyder fired Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer, who finished the season by winning eight of his last 11 games, and hired Spurrier to a five-year, $25 million contract, making Spurrier the highest paid coach in NFL history.
A year of bickering between players and coaches was too much for the Minnesota Vikings, and head coach Dennis Green was fired before the season ended. Offensive line coach Mike Tice replaced Green for the Vikings’ Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens. A week later, Tice was named the permanent head coach for the Vikings.
Following a 5-11 season, the San Diego Chargers fired coach Mike Riley. The coaches lined up to follow Riley in San Diego include Schottenheimer, Cottrell, Chargers offensive coordinator Norv Tuner and University of Hawaii head coach June Jones.
Each season, the NFL sees head coaches come and go. As long as Saban is successful in Baton Rouge, his name will continue to arise as a potential NFL head coach. The question for Tiger fans is, “how many raises does Bertman have up his sleeves?”