The bottom line on Barnes' pay is this: Can anyone name a period in the last 20 years when Tennessee basketball was as much fun as it was last year and the second half of the year before? Maybe the Pearl years...and guess what? If Pearl were still at Tennessee, he'd probably be making close to what Barnes is making.
One way to look at it is this, this is a bad year for Barnes, but for Cuonzo Martin, this would be a typical year. So Barne's worst is about par for Cuonzo. Yeah, it could be a lot worse.
As for volsboy's rants, as a matter of fact, being perpetually in the top 20 and and always making the tourney is pretty dam good. This is Tennessee, not Duke or Kentucky, and a long stretch like that, which is probably coming, ranks up there with the best in Tennessee history.
Being perpetually top 20 and always making the tourney is pretty much my goal for Men's Basketball at the University of Tennessee. My expectation is that of all the tourney bids, somewhere in there is a run to the Final Four, which the Vols have never achieved, and then anything can happen.
Can Barnes take the Vols higher than they have ever been? I think so.
But yes, the standard is make the tourney every year.
Is his pay a bit above that expectation? Maybe. But give it a few years, his pay won't be that high anymore. It's the world we live in.
If anything Fulmer should get credit for opening the wallet to keep a quality coach, even if we paid a bit over his true value (and yes, it's "a bit" not "a lot"). How many times do UT fans whine that we don't pay quality coaches and should just throw money at coaches, and this has included you in the past, and now we do and you still whine!
16“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17“ ‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
