Imagine how a candidate for the University of Tennessee football coaching job must have felt when he heard Saturday’s score: Wyoming 13, Tennessee 7.

“Surprise” might have come first. But “alarm” probably didn’t come next.

It’s easier to take over a high-profile program like UT’s after a losing season than a winning one.

If UT could have finished the regular season 7-5 and elected to make a coaching change, it would have made the next coach’s first season that much more challenging.

Transitional years are difficult enough anyway. They’re easier when the program is coming off a losing season of historical proportions.

Sure, a loss to Wyoming might have a greater impact on a coaching candidate than all the other losses. His likely response: “I didn’t know they were that bad.” But a coach won’t base a career decision on that.

He will look past the current record and see a program with great tradition and facilities. He also will see a program that isn’t afraid to write a lottery-size paycheck.

Last week, UT athletic director Mike Hamilton decided he would rather pay outgoing coach Phillip Fulmer $6 million not to coach his program. Imagine the kind of message that sends to coaching candidates.

There’s more financial evidence than that to turn a candidate’s head. Following UT’s 10-4 season in 2007, Fulmer was rewarded with a contract extension and a pay raise that pushed his salary way past the $2 million-a-year mark.

Hamilton didn’t have to do that. There was no bidding war for Fulmer’s services. Moreover, Hamilton’s decision was roundly criticized, even by some fans who identified themselves as Fulmer supporters.

As wasteful as that might have seemed, it won’t seem that way to a coaching candidate. Instead, he will see Hamilton as an athletic director who will go to great lengths to help his football coach be successful.

The raise and extension told prospective recruits that UT’s program and its coach were on solid footing. That might have been an illusion, but it didn’t hurt recruiting.

Based on its commitments, UT has assembled a nationally ranked recruiting class so far. It has lost some commitments and might lose more with the coaching change. But the majority will stick with their commitments.

Even as UT struggled toward a losing season, it secured commitments from sought-after players from outside the state and region. That tells coaching candidates more about the program than a loss to Wyoming does.

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

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.