Please just stop with the Butch and Barnes comparisons. They have, literally, zero comparable qualities in two sports that have zero comparable measurements of success. This discussion is useless. Again, I see why using the greatest single failure in Tennessee football helps to emotionally invoke support for your argument, but it doesn’t carry water...at all.
And as for Calipari, he and Barnes both universally seem to have failed to meet their season expectations across the board. No SEC title, no SECT title, and no Final Four. Yet, both received significant raises born out of an offer to coach at UCLA. However, your forced analogy between the two makes it seem as if they are making similar money and that we should expect similar results year in and year out. Truth is, even with Barnes’ raise, Cal is still paid nearly 2.5x what RB is. To use your football crossover comparison, Calipari is making Nick Saban money for Gus Malzahn results.
If you really want to be outraged over a contract, go after Calipari. He just fleeced Kentucky into a lifetime deal that will pay him $11.8 million/year over the next 3 years at the idle threat of him going to UCLA to take a $1.2 million/year pay cut, as if that were ever going to happen. They are paying $11.8 million for a coach who over the past 4 years, despite routinely having the most raw talent every year, hasn’t made a Final Four, has only had his team ranked #1 for 4 weeks, and hasn’t been ranked #1 beyond November (so basically beyond the preseason hype).
That is the kind of contract to be outraged over. At least Tennessee stepped up to keep their coach in response to a credible threat from UCLA, and if the numbers are accurate, got him for $300k LESS than what UCLA offered. Meanwhile, UK paid Calipari $3.2 million/yr over the UCLA price when Cal was already making $1.2 million more than the $8 million the Bruins offered.