As the head coach of the Tennessee basketball program, Rick Barnes is in charge of how much money his assistants make. Barnes thought two of his assistant coaches -- Desmond Oliver and Michael Schwartz -- should make the same amount of money.
But they didn't.
Schwartz earned more than Oliver, and Barnes wanted to change it. There wasn't money in the budget to make the change immediately, so Barnes started paying Oliver directly out of his own pocket.
"It was important to me that Des Oliver made the same amount of money as (Schwartz)" Barnes told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "I just felt those two positions needed to be equal. They felt it wasn’t in the budget. I just said, 'I am going to pay it myself.'"
Here's the violation Tennessee flagged on itself; it's interesting that Tennessee classified its own head basketball coach as an "outside source."
The article doesn't state how much Schwartz made or the gap between his and Oliver's salaries. Barnes makes a reported $2.25 million annually.
Barnes's gesture was actually a Level III violation, but Tennessee reported the quote-unquote crime to the NCAA and educate Barnes on the rule, which he said he was unaware of. The NCAA and the SEC declined to prosecute Tennessee further.
Tennessee has since given Oliver the raise Barnes thought he deserved.
"He works his butt off," Barnes said. "It was important to me that he knows how much we all appreciate him."