Greg Byrne receives seven-year contract extension, raises base salary north of $2.7 million

Contracts across the Alabama athletic department are being approved on Monday. Kalen DeBoer and his staff had details released, while Nate Oats signed an extension to give him the highest buyout in all of college basketball. Even the man negotiating those two contracts, Greb Byrne, got a fresh deal of his own.

Byrne will be in Tuscaloosa for at least the next seven years, with his first full year beginning this upcoming July 1. His salary will begin at $2.31 million and rise all the way up to $2.755 million when the contract ends in 2031.

“Greg’s done an incredible job of leading our athletics program since his arrival, and certainly, during this time of great changes in our athletic world, we’re fortunate to have Greg leading our department,” Alabama president Dr. Stuart Bell said. “He is a national voice of reason, judgment and a wonderful leader for our coaches and student-athletes.”

Alabama is paying Byrne handsomely for the work he has done since arriving in 2017. As Steve Berkowitz of the USA TODAY pointed out, Byrne is just the fifth athletic director — at a public school — to have a salary of $2 million or more.

“This makes Alabama the fifth public school whose AD is making $2 million or more (also Texas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas Tech), with Oklahoma nearly at that level and Texas A&M‘s deal with Trev Alberts pending,” Berkowitz said via X. “Federal tax records show Notre Dame, Baylor also over $2 million.”

No matter when it occurred, the biggest moment of Byrne’s tenure at Alabama would be when Nick Saban decided to retire. He understood that when accepting the job seven years ago and was prepared from the get-go.

When the time came, Byrne spoke with the players and asked them to give him 72 hours to find a new head coach. He returned to Tuscaloosa from Seattle with DeBoer in just over 48 hours, staying to true to his word and then some.

Byrne has made some other big hires, most notably Oats after firing Avery Johnson. Oats has brought the Alabama basketball program to a level it has never seen and was rewarded with a lengthy contract extension of his own.

Gymnastics under Ashley Johnson (hired in 2022) has been great for Alabama as well, currently ranked seventh in the country. Byrne’s latest hire came on the baseball diamond with Rob Vaughn and early results are positive following an SEC opening series win against Tennessee.