Tennessee's football future is nearly set.

In 2005, the Vols return 17 starters from the SEC East Division Championship team.

A $12 million expansion of the Neyland Thompson Sportscenter is nearly complete, and a $107.6 million renovation to Neyland Stadium is planned.

The Vols' recruiting class has 14 commitments and a consensus top-10 ranking at this point.

All that's left for UT to secure a promising transition into next season and beyond is keeping its coaching staff intact.

At this point, UT's assistant coaches have yet to agree on guaranteed contract offers.

Athletic director Mike Hamilton responded to the coaches' request for guaranteed contracts last spring, sending the proposal for the standardized contracts to the university council. The concept of guaranteed contracts was approved and returned in the summer.

"I gave it to the assistant athletic director for football operations, Gerry Dickey,'' Hamilton said. "He's taken it to the assistant coaches for review, to see if they had issues with how the contracts were written.''

The wording of the contracts seems fine, but at least three assistants are not sure if the bottom dollar will add up.

Coach Phillip Fulmer knows it's a concern for his program. When Fulmer took over for Johnny Majors before the 1993 season, one of the first things he did was request that his coaching staff be paid competitively.

As the years have gone by and the wins and NFL draft picks have piled up, Fulmer has stayed conscientious of the salary situation.

"It is a priority for me to keep my staff intact,'' Fulmer said. "Around the country there have been trendsetters and pacesetters. I know our administration will allow us to remain competitive with other top-tier programs.''

Hamilton said he's confident UT's coaching staff is paid similar to other top-10 programs in the country.

While that might be true, there are coaches on staffs outside of the top 10 making more money than UT's assistants - like this year's Cotton Bowl opponent, Texas A&M.

"I think when Texas A&M hired their new staff, that's (money) part of what it took to assemble that staff,'' Hamilton said. "Texas A&M has a wealth of resources, in terms of the dollars available to them in support. But they are a peer program when it comes to a measuring stick.''

Hamilton said a process must play out before the assistants get their annual raises and sign the appropriate contracts. At Texas A&M, only the coordinators have guaranteed two-year contracts.

"Phillip and I will first have a conversation about this season, the program, and what should be done for him (financially),'' Hamilton said. "That then has to be looked at by the president, and then the board of trustees have to approve it.''

Hamilton said the next step in the process is for Fulmer to appeal for what he feels the needs are for his assistant coaches. Hamilton said that proposal must also be put before the president.

"I'm in favor of doing what's necessary to keep a staff intact that's accomplishing good things and having a great year,'' Hamilton said. "I do think this is a great year. We've exceeded expectations. We won the Eastern Division outright, and beat Florida, Georgia and Alabama with the youngest team in the league.

"Then you look at all the injuries on the offensive line, and all the injuries to defensive players who would have been starting, and I'd have to say it has been one of Phillip's better coaching jobs.''