Nebraska Athletics Director Trev Alberts gets an extension and a damned big raise.

Look at what happened to/with Trev Alberts! He got a new contract!

The new contract includes:

An annual base salary of $1.7 million, increasing to $2.1 million in 2026.

Retention incentives, including an existing contractual $500,000 retention bonus if Alberts stays through September 2025, with an annual $300,000 retention bonus for every year he stays thereafter.

A $3 million completion bonus if he completes the entire eight-year agreement.

Liquidation damage buyouts that will be paid to the university if Alberts were to leave for another opportunity.

Alberts’ new contract, like his existing one, will be funded entirely with Athletic Department funds. No taxpayer or tuition dollars will be used. Nebraska’s is one of few athletic departments in the country to operate without a university subsidy.

President Ted Carter, the guy who is leaving for Ohio State, announced the new contract and damned big raise.

From the release:

Carter pointed to a number of major achievements in Husker Athletics since Alberts took the helm in 2021, including the historic Volleyball Day in Nebraska that broke the world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event, the hiring of head football coach Matt Rhule, and a new 15-year, $300 million multimedia rights agreement with Playfly Sports that is one of the most comprehensive in the country.

Alberts is taking on a very aggressive renovation of Memorial Stadium. He’s dealing with NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and all of the changes currently happening in college athletics. There’s that $150M Go Big Red project that’s nearing completion, and I daresay, our athletics across the board are doing better than they did when he arrived.

Was Alberts in danger of leaving?

Probably not.

So what’s the deal?

I am guessing that this is in response to two things:

• This article by Flatwater Free Press about UNO’s Athletic Department and “fuzzy” finances that starts with the following:

A “historical lack of fiscal discipline.” A “lack of monitoring” of projected budgets. Funds improperly “disguised” as revenue alongside an allegation that donors and university leaders were misled on financial details.

The idea is that Trev Alberts was up to some shenanigans at UNO. I confess I know little about UNO’s finances, and to be honest, I don’t care. Universities are crappy at dealing with finances all over the place, and that stands doubly true for athletics.

• There needs to be some level of backing and stability if Alberts is going out to raise $450M to do the Memorial Stadium Renovation. People who have the kind of money that will pay for the renovation need to know the University of Nebraska- Lincoln is behind their athletic director. A damned big raise and contract extension does just that.

I think UNL can afford it. Alberts has done a good job of getting the department’s shit together in the short time he’s been there.

I am interesting in hearing your thoughts about it. COMMENT AWAY!