Not everybody is hurting financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
University of Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, whose first season in Tuscaloosa produced record-setting numbers, has received an $850,000 raise and is now making $2.5 million a year. Sarkisian's new contract was approved Wednesday in a special meeting called by the UA Board of Trustees.
Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne said Sarkisian's new salary was agreed upon in February. Sarkisian had been mentioned several weeks earlier as a potential head coach for openings at Colorado and Mississippi State.
Sarkisian's $2.5 million salary now matches that of Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele as the highest in college football for an assistant coach. Steele received his raise in late January.
Last season's Alabama offense averaged a school-record 47.2 points per game, which ranked second nationally, while averaging 510.8 yards a game. Quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones combined to throw for 4,449 yards and 49 touchdowns, and that equated to a school-record 342.2 passing yards per game.
Alabama's 199.61 passing efficiency rating was not only a school record but the second-best mark in NCAA history.
The announcement of Sarkisian's raise occurred roughly a month after Alabama revealed the 46-year-old had traveled to Birmingham to undergo "a procedure to correct a congenital cardiovascular anomaly before it became an issue."
Also receiving a pay hike Wednesday was defensive coordinator Pete Golding, who landed a bump from $1.1 million to $1.25 million. Golding is also beginning his second season as the coordinator.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.