updated 3:43 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2007

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - In a poor state that struggles to fund public schools, the $4 million a year offered to the University of Alabama’s new football coach sent the wrong signal to some.

“That certainly makes a strong statement in a state that funds education at one of the lowest per-pupil rates of any state in the country,” said state Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre, chairman of a House committee that writes the education budget. “I think we’ve let it get out of hand.”

Many Crimson Tide fans cheered the hiring of Nick Saban — who took a cut from his $4.5 million salary to leave the Miami Dolphins for Alabama. But his compensation, reported to be about $4 million a year, makes him the highest paid college coach in the country, well ahead of Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, who makes about $3.4 million.

The $4 million is more than most CEOs make in a state that ranks 46th in the country in household income, with a median of $37,502. The hiring announced Wednesday also came on the same day Education Week magazine released a study showing Alabama ranked 45th nationally in giving public schoolchildren a chance for success.

“You couldn’t have a more stark picture of education priorities in the state of Alabama,” said Jim Carnes, communications director for Alabama Arise, a coalition that represents the poor. “We put that kind of money into a college football coach and leave our younger children at the mercy of inadequate schools and underpaid teachers. We strongly need a priority adjustment.”

But the faculty senate president at the university, chemistry professor John Vincent, had a more positive view of the new coach’s salary.

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“The money doesn’t come out of the academic side of the university. The academic side is self sufficient,” he said. “Of course I would like to see these kinds of benefits available on the academic side, but this hiring offers much to the university.”

Vincent said having a high-profile coach like Saban would create more interest in the University of Alabama, which would bring more interest and money to the academic side.

Athletic director Mal Moore, asked about the size of Saban’s compensation, said he could not disclose details until the contract is signed. But he said the hiring of Saban, who won a national championship at LSU, was “a crucial hire for this program.”

University relations officials did not immediately provide specifics on the source of funds to pay the coach’s salary. In the past, only a small part of the salary has been from state funds, with the bulk coming from endorsements or other non-state sources.

Finis St. John IV, chairman of the trustees’ athletics committee, said the football program that Saban will direct “supports all the other sports except for men’s basketball.”

He said the university president, Robert Witt, “thinks it’s important for student recruitment, for donor giving and for the momentum that he’s built trying to attract excellent students and make this the finest university he can.”

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But Cleo Thomas, a former member of the board of trustees at Alabama, said spending millions on a football coach makes the public cynical, particularly when politicians talk about raising taxes for education.

“I think he’s clearly the right man for the job, but that seems like an exorbitant amount,” said Thomas, an Anniston attorney who was the first black student government president at Alabama.

“How do you explain to the people of Alabama the needs of the university when you have these kinds of resources available to pay the coach?” Thomas said. “How do you make the claim for more public funds, which are scarce, if there are surpluses that permit $4 million coaches salaries?”

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