CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson coach is getting a hefty raise after winning the national championship.

Dabo Swinney and the Board of Trustees agreed to a new 8-year, $54 million contract Friday that averages out to $6.75 million a year. It includes $3.2 million in signing bonuses in three installments and a $6 million buyout until the end of 2018.

The deal makes Swinney the third highest-paid football coach in the country, behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.

The university studied the salaries of the three other active coaches with a national title and Harbaugh’s deal since he has a Super Bowl appearance to find a fair figure to offer Swinney as he enters his ninth full season with the Tigers, athletics director Dan Radakovich said.

“What’s he’s done with our program has been incredible. He means so much to our athletic department, to our university, to our community,” Radakovich told reporters after the trustees voted.

Swinney’s new contract pays him $6 million this season with his base salary increasing to $6.6 million in 2024, the last season of the deal.