We paid KY what we did NOT because he's proven that worth as a college HC (far from it!). But because that's a somewhat competitive price for what was yielding as an NBA assistant.
We were willing to pay that in no small part because his specific value he brings to BYU as a high-quality LDS bball coach. We're willing to take that risk in order to assemble competitive Big 12 teams.
I think a very similar general argument can be made for matching UK's price to bring back our homeboy, Jax.