A raise hardly qualifies as news at the University of Tennessee. Almost everybody is getting one.

The raise might be small as in the case of your rank-and-file UT workers, most of whom will receive a two-percent across-the-board raise. It might be large as in the case of Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt, whose recently negotiated contract makes her the highest-paid coach in the history of her sport.

Or it might be well deserved as in the case of UT athletic director Mike Hamilton.

The raise, which was announced Monday, will boost Hamilton’s base salary from $236,900 to $261,500. He will receive $40,000 for radio and television commitments and endorsement fees.

Also, his contract was extended three years to June of 2011. If he’s still on the job by then, he will receive a $120,000 retention bonus.

That’s big money to the UT employee fantasizing about all the fun he’s going to have on that two percent raise. It’s a clothing allowance if you’re a big-time college football or basketball coach. Their country-club memberships are worth more.

College football coaches can get an extra $25,000 after losing three or four games and going to a third-tier bowl game. And that’s just a fraction of what they get for their television shows.

Hamilton’s raise is more impressive if you figure it by the word. Assuming he needed only four words to tell Bruce Pearl, "You are our guy," his raise comes to about $6,000 a word.

I’m not suggesting that’s all Hamilton has done in his three years on the job (He also fired Buzz Peterson). But Pearl alone is worth the raise. In fact, if UT wanted to throw another $25,000 Hamilton’s way as a Pearl-hiring bonus, I wouldn’t object.

Pearl turned a loser into a winner. He brought Thompson-Boling to life. He transformed an arena and a program in just one year.

Pearl has become The Man. And Hamilton is the man who hired him.

If you think hiring the right basketball coach is easy, you haven’t been paying attention. Former UT athletic director Doug Dickey could bring you up to speed.

Dickey hired Wade Houston as his first basketball coach. Houston or Pearl? If that’s a tough call, then you really haven’t been paying attention.

Sure, Hamilton had help in the hiring process. But ultimately, it was his call. And, as he has said often, it was a gut call

"You’re making judgment calls on what you know from an intellectual standpoint," he said. "It becomes sort of a gut decision."

Sort of like the gut decisions Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley made to hire Billy Donovan as his basketball coach and Ron Zook as his football coach. He hit a home run with Donovan and struck out with Zook.

Coaching searches account for only a small portion of an athletic director’s workload. But it’s the hiring hits and misses that fans remember. Their athletic director is either the genius who hired Billy Donovan or the idiot who hired Ron Zook.

Hamilton’s background is in fundraising so he’s comfortable mingling with boosters and soliciting their support. But there’s more than one way to raise money for an athletic department. You also can do it by filling the seats in one of the biggest basketball arenas in the country.

And that means hiring the right basketball coach.

Never mind how Hamilton fared as a fundraiser, promoter and administrator last year. Most fans couldn’t care less.

They just know the genius who hired Bruce Pearl deserves a raise.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.