Raises for college football coaches are generally accepted and understood as part of the new culture of collegiate athletics.

Georgia’s Mark Richt gets a raise? Fine. Disgraced Falcons coach Bobby Petrino gets $2.85 million in his first Arkansas contract? Yawn.

Only Phillip Fulmer, one of the most polarizing sports figures in the state of Tennessee, could get a long-overdue raise and see both praises and criticisms since the recent announcement. The discussion reached national forums.

There are two nearly impenetrable arguments — one in favor of Fulmer, one against him — when discussing the Tennessee coach’s job performance.

UT Fan 1: Look at his career record: 147-45. That is super-awesome. I believe that was the Boston Celtics’ record in the NBA playoffs this year.

UT Fan 2: Even Fulmer says the first goal is winning an SEC championship, and he hasn’t done that since the birth of Google. (UT Fan 2 is really up on his 1998 history. He probably Googled it.)

UT Fan 1: But the record ...

UT Fan 2: But the championships ...

Ad nauseam.

Fulmer is the Atlanta Braves of football coaches, with one title and a bunch of wins and an uncertain legacy. So he gets this massive raise (an average of $2.99 million annually) and extension (at least seven years), and we can’t really decide how to take the news.

The money, to me, is definitely deserved. The extension and incentives? A little much.

First, the cash: I don’t care about Fulmer’s record over the past four years against teams ranked in the top 18 at night when the opponent rushes for 162 yards or whatever cherry-picked stats some Tennessee fans love to use.

Before the raise, only four SEC coaches (probably five, if Vanderbilt released Bobby Johnson’s salary) made less money than Fulmer. That is incomprehensible. He’s not exactly throwing 3-9 records out there every year. Tennessee gets to the SEC championship game more than anybody. It’s about market value, and Fulmer was wildly underpaid.

Some might say Fulmer is the fourth-best coach in the SEC East. Well, Steve Spurrier’s stock has declined sharply since 2001. Urban Meyer already makes more money than Fulmer. Richt makes about the same. So the money seems about right.

The length of the extension and the incentives are puzzling. All the money college football coaches make these days comes with a caveat: Your job is volatile. You better win. We are not paying you to finish 8-4.

But Tennessee will pay Fulmer to finish 8-4, as stated in his contract. He gets a one-year extension, and millions more, if Tennessee finishes 8-4. I’m not sure if that would occur before the parade through Knoxville celebrating the season or after. This reminds me of that Chris Rock joke about men who brag about taking care of their kids: That is something you’re supposed to do.

Winning at least eight times is something you’re supposed to do, if your salary is nearly $3 million.

I realize that athletic director Mike Hamilton wanted to send a message to recruits and critics that Fulmer isn’t planning to leave Knoxville. But no one deserves the equivalent of a lifetime contract because of previous accomplishments. College football coaching, considering the money involved, should be a results-oriented business. Hamilton could have sent the same message with a three- or four-year extension.

When Fulmer says he’s a Tennessee guy, and therefore, he’s more committed, I disagree. I don’t think Fulmer is more committed than Meyer just because Meyer didn’t attend Florida. Or that Fulmer out-commits Nick Saban just because Saban never took classes at Alabama. Loyalty, sadly, means little in college football.

Championships should be the prelude to such a lengthy deal. Fulmer needs to win another. He’s a very good coach and I think he will. But if he doesn’t and a buyout is needed, Hamilton spent an awful lot of money to ease the recruits and silence the detractors.

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