Auburn hikes Chizik’s salary to $3.5 million

Gene Chizik has received a new contract nearly doubling his salary and making him one of college football’s highest paid coaches. Auburn announced the deal Friday and it’s worth $3.5 million a year through 2015, with incentives that could tack on another $1 million. Chizik was rewarded for leading the Tigers to their first national title since 1957 in just his second season. He made $2.1 million in salary last season, but received another $1.3 million in bonuses following the 14-0 season.
“We believe that we have the best coach in college football,” Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said in a statement. “More importantly, coach Chizik is a great mentor to our student-athletes, he represents Auburn with class and integrity in all that he does, and he is an outstanding ambassador for Auburn University.”

“I want to thank President (Jay) Gogue and Jay Jacobs for their leadership and vision and believing in the direction that we have established for the Auburn football program,” Chizik said in a statement. “I deeply appreciate their commitment to me and to the future of Auburn football.

“The success that we’ve accomplished in the past two seasons has been possible because of the collective efforts of the football coaches and staff, players, our administration and the entire Auburn Family. We will continue to work tirelessly to build the foundation of the Auburn football program so that we can compete for championships regularly.”

The hefty raise still doesn’t quite push Chizik up into Nick Saban territory, but does make him the SEC’s fourth-highest paid head coach.