Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts has received a new contract that will double his salary and keep him at the school through 2031, university president Ted Carter announced Tuesday.
Alberts’ annual base salary will go from $800,000 to $1.7 million and increase to $2.1 million in 2026, according to a news release from the university.
Alberts would be paid a $500,000 retention bonus if he stays through September 2025, with an annual $300,000 retention bonus every following year he stays. He would receive a $3 million bonus if he completes the entire eight-year agreement.
Liquidation damages would be paid to the university if Alberts were to leave for another job.
The university did not immediately make the new contract available to the media.
Asked by The Associated Press if he had an opportunity to leave Nebraska, Alberts texted, “I don’t want to comment on any other jobs/openings. I’m grateful to be a Cornhusker!”
Nebraska has struggled to find leadership stability with both the athletic department and the football program since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Alberts is the school’s fourth athletics director since 2012. Last year, he hired Matt Rhule as the team’s third coach since the end of the 2014 season.
Alberts was hired in 2021 after serving as athletic director at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He was an All-America football player for the Huskers and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in 1993.
Carter noted a number of achievements. Among them were the “Volleyball Day in Nebraska” event that drew 92,000 fans to Memorial Stadium, the largest attendance ever recorded for a women’s sport; the hiring of football coach Matt Rhule; and landing a 15-year, $300 million multimedia rights agreement with Playfly Sports.
“Today’s college athletics landscape is complex and ever-changing,” Carter said. “We need exactly the right person leading Husker Athletics forward. In Trev Alberts, we have found that leader.”
Alberts said in a statement that he and his family are humbled by the confidence shown by Carter and university regents.
“It is an incredible honor and privilege to serve as the Director of Athletics at Nebraska and it is a role I don’t take for granted,” he said. “Our student-athletes, coaches and staff have accomplished so much in the past two years. We have great momentum in Husker Athletics and we are excited for what is ahead.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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