Yes, it’s a lot of money that the University of Tennessee is paying football coach Phillip Fulmer and basketball boss Bruce Pearl. But success doesn’t come cheap these days.

For that matter, neither does failure. Especially when the programs Fulmer and Pearl run are expected to pretty much underwrite the rest of the athletic department.

So if it seems a wee bit expensive paying Fulmer $2.4 million this season (without bonuses) and Pearl $1.6 million (before incentives) when neither man has come close to winning a national championship over the past five years, let’s look at the big picture.

Let’s look at how much money it would cost the athletic department if either man were a loser and Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena were half-filled instead of overflowing.

Or as UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday in announcing the extensions and raises for both Fulmer and Pearl: “More than 85 percent of the athletics department’s budget — both directly and indirectly — is generated through the football program. Coach Fulmer’s success on the field has allowed all 20 sports the opportunity to compete at the highest level.”

But Fulmer and Pearl are only two-thirds of UT’s Lethal Weapons Three. Add Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt to that mix, and it becomes difficult to find any other program in the country with so much talent at all three spots.

No disrespect to the rest of the SEC, but Summitt sways any argument UT’s way. Florida can certainly top Fulmer and Pearl since both football coach Urban Meyer and basketball coach Billy Donovan have won national titles — with Billy D winning two. But UF women’s coach Amanda Butler has eight less than Summitt’s eight national crowns.

No other school in the SEC comes close with its big three since all those national championship football coaches — South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier (while at Florida), Alabama’s Nick Saban (while at LSU) and LSU’s Les Miles — aren’t helped by basketball.

So in what many consider the most athletically obsessed league in America, the Vols are victorious, though Gator Nation could easily argue otherwise.

Look past the SEC, however, and only three other programs nationally possess UT’s balance at its three most high-profile coaching spots.

The first is Texas, though only football coach Mack Brown counts a national championship among his accomplishments.

However, women’s basketball coach Gail Goestenkors ranks fourth among active coaches in winning percentage (79 percent) and routinely produced Top Five teams at Duke before moving to Austin prior to the 2006-2007 season.

As for Longhorns hoops coach Rick Barnes, Pearl has a 2-1 record against him as the Vols coach, but Barnes has three Elite Eights and a Final Four with the Longhorns over 10 years, while Pearl is yet to advance past the Sweet 16 after three years in K-town.

Second up is North Carolina.

Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis didn’t win a national championship at Miami before he bolted for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, but he did sign and coach most of the Hurricanes who won it all the year after he departed. He should soon have the Baby Blues fighting for the ACC crown.

As for Lady Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell, Summitt leads her in national titles by seven, but she is the third winningest active coach and the only coach to win a national title at the AIAW, NAIA and NCAA Division I levels.

Then there is men’s basketball coach Roy Williams, who’s been to a total of six Final Fours (two at UNC) and won the 2005 national title with the Tar Heels.

No offense to Pearl, but Roy Boy pretty much wins that matchup about as easily as Summitt trumps every women’s coach save UConn’s Geno Auriemma. Fulmer’s 1998 national championship noses out Davis, so Vols are slightly better.

Then there’s Ohio State.

Buckeyes basketball boss Thad Matta twice broke Pearl’s heart a year ago. Matta’s two Elite Eight appearances (one at OSU, the other with Xavier) and his national championship game loss to Florida give him an edge at that spot for now.

OSU women’s hoops coach Jim Foster can’t match Summitt, but he did take Vanderbilt to four Elite Eights and one Final Four when he was with the Lady Commodores and he’s reached the NCAA Tournament all six of his seasons at OSU while averaging 25 wins a year in Columbus.

As for Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel, well, he’s won the same number of BCS titles as Fulmer, but he’s played for two more in his seven seasons at OSU. Before that he won three I-AA titles at Youngstown State. Maybe Fulmer should consider adding a tie to his sweater vest ensembles.

But even if you give a slender nod to Florida on the basis of the economic clout of football and men’s basketball, the Vols should be in anybody’s Top Five nationally when comparing their top three coaches as a group with any other school’s top three coaches as a group.

When you consider that Fulmer is only the seventh highest paid coach in the SEC (without bonuses) and Pearl’s payday — even with the $1.5 retention bonus scattered over the contract’s six seasons — looks up to Donovan and Kentucky’s Billy Gillespie within the SEC, Hamilton’s raises to both are money well spent.

At least as long as their wins keep pace with their paychecks.