Ryan Grubb was Alabama football’s most anticipated addition of the offseason. After Kalen DeBoer’s old friend was fired by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, rumors quickly began swirling that Grubb would reunite with the Crimson Tide.
Eventually, he did, taking over as UA’s primary playcaller and offensive coordinator after Nick Sheridan held that role in 2024. Sheridan remains on staff as co-OC and quarterbacks coach, and when Grubb’s contract was approved by the UA board of trustees compensation committee on Friday, it turned out that Sheridan will be making more than the new addition.
Grubb will be paid $1 million per year of his two-year contract. Meanwhile, Sheridan, who did not receive a new contract Friday, will get $1.45 million through Feb. 28, 2026, and $1.55 million beginning March 1, 2026.
Committee member Ken Simon questioned the relatively low rate for Grubb’s services before the deal was approved.
“How’d you get Ryan Grubb at that price?” Simon asked UA athletics director Greg Byrne. “He’s an NFL-level coordinator. Sounds like a pretty good deal.”
Grubb had initially joined the Crimson Tide in 2024, following DeBoer from Washington. However, he quickly reversed course and headed back to Seattle to join the Seahawks.
Byrne implied he was receiving some amount of buyout money from the NFL organization.
“He had an existing contract with the Seattle Seahawks that helped us in our structure of our compensation for him,” Byrne said. “And there are playcallers within the SEC that are in that range, so it was the market rate for us.”
In addition to the $1 million per year, Grubb’s contract includes a host of possible bonuses, including $25,000 for an SEC Championship Game appearance $35,000 for a College Football Playoff appearance, $45,000 for making the CFP quarterfinals; $60,000 for making the CFP semifinals, $85,000 for making the national title game and $110,000 for winning the CFP championship.
The SEC championship bonus will stack with one of the CFP bonuses. Grubb will receive whichever the highest of those is.
The contract includes a buyout on Grubb’s end. Should he leave for an assistant job in the SEC, he would owe UA 75% of the remaining salary on the contract, which drops to 50% for non-SEC assistant jobs, including those in the NFL.
Should he leave Alabama for a head coach job in FBS or the NFL, Grubb will not have to pay any buyout. If Alabama fires Grubb without cause, it would owe him one month’s base salary.
