But I don't have to decide which details mattered, because he told us what specific detail mattered. It was going to cost him money before it made him money so he didn't take it. He said that. His answer to the question, "What if they had payed the buyout?" was, "I think I would have been the coach at UCLA. I really felt at that time that that’s what would have happened. In my mind that’s what I was thinking." That was the deciding factor for him. That's not an interpretation. And your stuff about what might make one job better than another is completely irrelevant to the discussion. I say that it couldn't be clearer that his statement implies that he considers the UCLA job a step up. If he had said something like, "UCLA came calling, I listened, but in the end I preferred where I am," you folks would have a case. But that's not what he said. He said that the single deciding factor was that UCLA wouldn't pay the buyout.
Now, here's my sidestep: all I've said is that that is what he communicated to potential recruits. For my money, I'm very glad to have Rick, and having grown up as a John Wooden fan myself, I have no problem with him considering an offer from UCLA, nor of him thinking it's a higher prestige job than UT. I happen to believe that it is as well.
And, just as a by the way: even given all this, I also have no problem with Rick saying God wants him to be at Tennessee. I think that God often directs us through circumstance, so, unlike the mockers on here, I do believe that Rick prayed fervently about this (as he said he did), and that God's answer may well have come with UCLA's unwillingness to pay the buyout.