Boulder, Colo. ? Nobody doubted Gary Barnett was a good coach, the kind who specializes in turnarounds and feel-good stories at places like Colorado.

In the end, though, he was too divisive, too much a lightning-rod, too much a symbol of the problems CU wants to leave behind to lead the program any longer.

The decision to relieve him of his job Thursday after seven tumultuous years means CU will get a completely new start after the scandal that engulfed the school and the football program on Barnett’s watch.

The president is gone. The chancellor is gone. The old athletic director is gone and now the coach is, too. With a $3 million settlement.

Athletic director Mike Bohn said it wasn’t all about the ugliness of the last three games – three losses by a combined score of 130-22. Either way, he got to make a change, and now he has to hope the rest of the university changes, too.

“I feel that if you don’t have the help of the administration and the university, you’re not going to go very far as a football program,” tight end Quinn Sypniewski said, echoing the frustration many inside the football offices have felt.

With success at academics-rich Northwestern on his resume, Barnett had the stuff to succeed at Colorado, a school where academics and athletics co-exist, but not always peacefully. CU has mediocre facilities, a fan base that needs to be coddled and cajoled, and an overall lack of funding that makes it one of the worst schools, facility-wise, in the Big 12.

Somehow, Barnett overcame that, plus the recruiting scandal, plus a suspension that came after he made derogatory remarks about kicker Katie Hnida, who alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a teammate.

“We held our heads up high and came out of this thing clean,” Barnett said.

But when the team loses three games by the combined score of 130-22, the coach gets the blame, regardless of what he’s overcome.

“This sends a totally wrong message,” said Jim Martin, a former regent who was the most critical of CU’s handling of the football program. “It’s all about wins and losses. There’s nothing that’s changed since the sex and alcohol scandal of 18 months ago but one thing, and that’s three straight losses.”

Colorado made it even tougher on Barnett when, after the recruiting scandal, the university slapped tough restrictions on his ability to recruit, limiting the length of visits, setting curfews and assigning chaperones.

In part because his team plays in a bad division and in part because he’s a good Xs-and-Os guy with a touch for motivating young men, Barnett made it work.

While Bohn took the diplomatic route in discussing the dismissal, others were more forthcoming.

“I think it was warranted in that there were many reasons on the field and off that called for a change,” said CU regent Cindy Carlisle. “I do think that the amount of the payout is an outrage. Three million? It’s beyond my comprehension.”

But that’s what it costs to make a big change.

Bohn was hamstrung by finances as well as his own indecision. Had he made the decision earlier, he wouldn’t have been subject to the fickle vagaries of the game. Colorado wouldn’t have even been playing the Longhorns had Iowa State held a fourth-quarter lead against Kansas.

And if 70-3 hadn’t happened, Barnett might still have his job.

Instead, Colorado will get the fresh start that might have been more appropriate to make when Bohn came on board.