If you believe in the axiom that you get what you pay for — or should — then it is, perhaps, no wonder the University of Hawai'i football team is a 19 1/2-point favorite over New Mexico State on the Las Vegas betting lines for tomorrow's game at Aloha Stadium.

For a pair of teams with3-6 records, they have hugely contrasting payrolls as the release of an exhaustive USA Today survey of NCAA major college football coaching salaries this week underlines.

The Warriors are contracted to pay their salaried coaches — head coach Greg McMackin ($931,004 after give-back) and nine assistants — about $1.9 million in combined salary.

The Aggies pay theirs — head coach Dwayne Walker ($375,000) and eight assistants — a total of about $845,000, according to USA Today figures. To save money after buying out the previous head coach, Hal Mumme, for a reported $550,000, the Aggies are operating one full-time position short with Walker doubling as defensive coordinator, USA Today said.

The Warriors are second in the nine-member Western Athletic Conference to defending champion Boise State, which pays head coach Chris Petersen ($1,123,150) and his coaches a combined $2.7 million, according to the paper. The Aggies are, far and away, at the bottom.

The bulk of the UH staff had its salaries set in 2008 based upon the Warriors going a collective 23-4 over the two previous seasons (2006 and '07), including a $4.38 million Sugar Bowl payout to the school.

NMSU, which has not had a winning season in six years, has not been to a bowl since 1960. And, UH more than doubles NMSU in attendance and TV rights fees.

Of course, as on-the-field results illustrate, the size of the paycheck is not a guarantee of head-to-head success. For example, Washington State's assistant coaches average $124,544 in salary to UH's $109,771 and UH won, 38-20, in Seattle this season. Idaho's 10-man staff averages $84,616 to the Warriors' $192,000, and the Vandals beat UH, 35-23, last month.

By any measure, the Warriors face a formidable challenge in their Dec. 5 game with No. 21 Wisconsin, whose 10-man staff averages approximately $306,000 per coach (head and assistants) to UH's $192,000.

But, then, if salaries were the overwhelming difference in performance, college football would be much too predictable and a whole lot less exciting.