COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts will earn $2.2 million over the course of a five-year contract, according to his contract obtained by KBTX via open records request.
The contract was signed by Alberts on July 1.
It outlines that A&M will pay $4.12 million to Nebraska as a buyout of Alberts’ contract with his alma mater while serving in the same position. Alberts’ initial contract with Nebraska began July 14, 2021 and was extended beginning on Nov. 14, 2023, according to Alberts contract with Nebraska.
Due to the recent extension, A&M was forced to pay the full amount of the buyout. The total buyout dropped to $2.8 million after Jan. 1, 2025, $1.7 million after Jan. 1, 2026, $750,000 after Jan. 1, 2027 and $315,000 after Jan. 1, 2028, per his contract with Nebraska.
Alberts made $1.7 million per year at Nebraska when he departed for Texas A&M. That salary was due to increase to $2.1 million after Sept. 1, 2026, according to his contract with Nebraska.
At A&M, Alberts has several performance-based incentives, the most of which is a $150,000 bonus should the Aggie football team win the College Football Playoff.
Alberts’ contract is fully guaranteed, should the university decide to terminate it without cause. Should Alberts terminate the contract, the buyout begins at $4 million and reduces by a million every year of the contract on April 1. He also has a key man clause in his contract that reduces his buyout by 50% if A&M President Mark Welsh leaves his current position.
Alberts replaced former Aggie athletic director Ross Bjork, who left A&M on Feb. 2 to take the same job at Ohio State. Bjork made $1.5 million when he terminated his contract, which required a buyout of $750,000, per his contract with A&M.
Both Alberts and new A&M head football coach Mike Elko have a clause in their contract that could bring the university and the employee back to the negotiating table for base salary should the financial model of college athletics drastically change. Factors relating to the House v. NCAA settlement, which will introduce revenue sharing for college athletes, are not included in a change of financial model. However, if college athletes were later deemed employees of the university, for instance, it could trigger the clause.
Should the House v. NCAA settlement be accepted by the presiding judge, athletic departments could pay athletes as much as approximately $20 million a year in revenue payments. Because of that, new revenue streams and cost-cutting measures will be the norm in athletic departments around the country, Alberts said in his introductory press conference. Welsh, on the same day, said it was Alberts’ business acumen that separated him as the top choice for the job.
“We think [business sense] was one of the requirements we put a box for when we began the search and he looks at things a little bit different than a lot of the other athletic directors,” Welsh said at the introductory press conference. “He looked at the business of college athletics and how it needs to adjust in the future. I don’t think anyone knows what the right answer is yet, but he is certainly willing to explore the possibilities.”
Around a month after taking the job in Aggieland Alberts laid off a number of athletic department employees, citing the change in the business landscape of college sports in a statement.
“These changes are difficult and let me state emphatically, these people have done nothing wrong,” Alberts said in a statement after the layoffs were reported. “These are good, hard-working members of the Aggie family and their service is greatly appreciated. I can assure you, this was not personal, it was a business decision, and a very difficult one at that.”
In his short term at the helm of the program, Alberts completed the hiring of baseball coach Michael Earley after the departure of Jim Schlossnagle to Texas. A&M’s baseball program reached the final series of the College World Series for the first time in school history. A&M also claimed a women’s tennis team national title and a women’s golf individual title this spring.
The Aggies finished No. 6 in the final Learfield Director’s Cup rankings for the 2023-24 season, marking the second-highest finish for the Aggies’ in the competition.
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