There’s been a lot of message board chatter lately about KU football coach Charlie Weis’ contract — how much money he makes, how much he’s worth and how much KU would owe him if the two sides chose to part ways before reaching the end of his contract, which runs through 2016.

Before I go any further, let me say that moving forward without Weis, in my opinion, is a bad idea for the program. Beyond that, I can’t see it happening. He hasn’t even made it through two seasons yet and, although the offense has left something to be desired, progress has been made in many areas — defense, special teams, off the field, etc. Moving forward without Weis starts the process all over again and keeps Kansas from building any kind of upward momentum. Give the guy a chance to tweak things this coming offseason, whether that means installing a new system, hiring an offensive coordinator, bringing in some new faces or all of the above, and see if Year 3 (the year many inside the program have been pointing to all along anyway) can be the year when things start to turn around.

OK. Now back the salary talk.

Weis came to Kansas with a $2.5 million price tag for three reasons: 1. His NFL pedigree and strong reputation. 2. Some savvy negotiating. 3. The debacle that was Lew Perkins’ hire of Turner Gill.

Think about it. If Perkins had merely doubled Gill’s Buffalo salary ($450,000), KU could have gotten away with paying Gill right around $1 million per year. He still would’ve come, because the opportunity to coach in the Big 12 is not offered up every day, and more than doubling his salary to the six-figure range surely would’ve sounded plenty sweet.

Had that happened, not only would KU have saved a boat load of money — Gill would’ve earned $2 million instead of $4.2 and been bought out for $3 million more instead of hauling in a final sum of $6 million to go away — but the bar also would have been substantially lower for the next coach, be it Weis or whomever.

At that point, the negotiation could have started with a much smaller number, say with KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger offering Weis in the $1.3-$1.5 million a year range and perhaps the two sides would’ve settled at or just under $2 million a year instead of $2.5 million.

For a program desperately wanting to move forward with plans to upgrade and renovate its football stadium, any kind of savings would be gold, especially when such a domino effect would’ve (or at least could’ve) saved Kansas close to $7.5 million during that time.

(This might be a good spot to set the record straight and remind you that neither Gill nor Mark Mangino are still being paid by Kansas)

This is not intended to be a knock on Zenger or Weis or Gill or even Perkins. Each man did what he thought he had to do and, beyond that, what’s done is done.

One of the more interesting things about the whole situation, though, is that even those who believe Weis makes too much dough for what he’s done at Kansas so far (personally, I think the man deserves the full five years to prove his worth) might be surprised to learn that he still ranks just seventh in the Big 12. Given his incredible season and recent contract extension dished out to Baylor coach Art Briles, along with the strong first-year showing from Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury, Weis may soon fall to ninth.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think paying your head football coach the ninth highest salary in a 10-team league is unreasonable.

Remember, we now live in the age of football-driven conference realignment and, if anything, I would think that athletic directors everywhere would darn sure want their football coaches to be paid in the top half of their leagues.

Just last week, USA Today released its collection of the salary numbers for college football coaches across the country, and it revealed that Weis’ $2.5 million annual haul ranks 31st nationally.

The whole thing is relative and each university faces its own unique set of circumstances that determine how — and even why — coaches are paid what they’re paid.

Perkins paid Gill what he wanted the job to be worth instead of paying Gill what he deserved, and that one move forever changed the KU football salary structure.

Regardless of how things wind up with Weis, whether he wins and goes on to make more money or loses and is eventually replaced, KU is going to have to spend money to get better and spend even more to stay there.

That’s a given. And, in many ways, it makes the actual figures irrelevant. The only real question is how long will it all take?

BIG 12 COACHING SALARIES:

1.Mack Brown, Texas — $5.45 million per year (2nd nationally)

2.Bob Stoops, Oklahoma — $4.77 million per year (5th)
3.Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State — $3.45 million per year (11th)
4.Gary Patterson, TCU — $3.12 million per year (16th)
5.Bill Snyder, Kansas State — $2.80 million per year (19th)
6.Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia — $2.63 million per year (24th)
7.Charlie Weis, Kansas — $2.50 million per year (31st)

8.Art Briles, Baylor — $2.43 million per year (34th)*
9.Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech — $1.86 million per year (53rd)

10.Paul Rhoads, Iowa State — $1.71 million per year (59th)

* Briles’ extension, which was announced Wednesday and will run through 2023, will vault him into third place on this list, at right around $4 million per season.