To say he would have no trouble recruiting a year from now with no contract extension is false. First, if he was to go 5-7 this year, he wouldn't be around this time next year so It's unlikely he'd be in someone's house claiming to be getting a "fat" contract. The extension and buyout are designed to build confidence in recruits that we are recruiting not only this year but next year. Regardless of what some think, recruits don't want to commit to an unstable situation. Are you watching the Tennessee drama unfold with all of their high commits retracting and looking for somewhere else to go? Recruits don't want to go somewhere where they are bound by their scholarship and don't know who their coach will be, what system they will be in and how the new coach views them as a player and how he will use him.
With no extension, Bustle's contract was up at the end of 2011. If he is fired, he'd be fired during the next recruiting period where kids have not signed and are likely to rethink a verbal if they know there is uncertainty in the coach's future. The extension was a good move and the buyout was an even better move to lessen the blow of the buyout which will come from private funds. I say the extension was a good move, I would have rathered gone a different direction this year all together, but if we were going to keep him another year, the extension and buyout were proper.