Auburn has the cash. We don't. We wasted millions on Fulmer, Delmonico, Pearl, Raliegh, DD, Hamilton buyouts. Everybody thinks we have an endless supply of money.
Since 2008, UT has had to pay:
Fulmer $6 million
Pearl $0.95 million
Raleigh $0.33 million
Hamilton $1.3 million <---WTF?!
Dooley $5 million
-assistants $2 million
So, for those keeping score, that is over $14 million dollars in coaching buyouts, not including a couple million for those not retained from Kiff's staff, or the roughly 1 million that he and Orgeron had to pay back to the school, or the 1.3 million or so that Cuonzo owes UT (Call the Kiff's staff buyout and Cunzo/Kiff/Orgeron payback a wash). Also, consider how poorly Hamilton wrote contracts. When Kiff left, he owed UT something like $800,000, if he had been fired at the exact same moment, UT would have owed him $7.5 million.
$14 million dollars since 2008.
Add to that about 7 million a year going back to the academic side (see:
University Diaries » “Tennessee’s athletic department is more than $200 million in debt, which is the most in the SEC. Moreover, Tennessee has reserves of just $1.95 million, which is the least in the SEC. “) prior to those payments being temporarily "suspended" around the hiring of Butch (Don't blame Hamilton alone for that, Gen. Neyland started the precedent of giving money from athletics towards purely academic scholarships).
Add to that around $200 million dollars of debt.
Oh, and while we're talking about how much money the AD spends, consider who else gets a cut of money that the AD makes...
The city of Knoxville taxes ticket sales at something like a 14% clip (so each time you buy a ticket at face value from the school, only 86% of that is retained), and as a general rule merchandise only produces about 15% revenue (so each time you buy a 30$ shirt, UT might get about $4.50). Or, to visualize this another way, when you go to Knoxville on a Saturday in the fall, you buy two tickets at $70 each from the University, plus 4 $30 shirts from Alumni Hall, or Hound Dogs, you have spent $260 supporting your favorite team, but the University might only see about $140 of that.
So, for anyone who is pissing and moaning that UT is bargain basement shopping, I say that you need to consider the reality of the situation and look at not only how much UT can afford, but the quality of coach for that price. This mess will take patience and time to recover from, and the current AD cannot be blamed. In fact, I believe he should be applauded for walking away from any deal that is not in the best interest of UT's finances when the outcome is not guaranteed (assuming the stories of White's buyout negotiations are correct). Sometimes it isn't the salary that is the issue, but the buyout. Big name coaches might demand a $3 million salary, which UT could probably absorb, the problem is that they would want a longer term guarantee and a buy out that could then be in the $10 million dollar range. That isn't what UT can afford should the relationship go sour.
Sources:
Tennessee Volunteers athletic department posts $3.98 million deficit - ESPN
Coach firings add up for University of Tennessee » GoVolsXtra
University Diaries » “Tennessee’s athletic department is more than $200 million in debt, which is the most in the SEC. Moreover, Tennessee has reserves of just $1.95 million, which is the least in the SEC. “
Firing a Coach, at a Price, With Little Evidence the Move Pays Off