Rich Brooks, although he was fighting back emotions admirably, sounded like a man Monday still torn between his decision to retire and a coach with enough fire left in him to coach the next three years – if the proper things were in place.That, at least, was the talk leading up to Monday’s official retirement announcement after Brooks announced after the Music City Bowl that he was “80 percent” sure he was stepping down. Reports from the Lexington Herald-Header and the Courier-Journal hinted that if certain conditions were meant – such as better pay, a facilities upgrade and the construction of a multi-purpose recruiting room – that he would consider coming back.Brooks confirmed Monday that those improvements were on his mind as he contemplated retirement over the past week and emphasized that those additions will still need to be made for Kentucky to take the next step.”I think that there are some things that do need to be done,” Brooks said. “I think the facility thing still needs more attention. We are currently redoing the meeting rooms over in the Nutter Training Center. I do feel that there is a need for stadium renovation that will also provide a continued revenue stream for the program to continue to grow. One other item, I think at least on my agenda, would be the expansion of the weight room on our current facility over there. I think that those things are important to continue the progress of Kentucky football.”However, Brooks said even if those conditions were met, he likely would have still been at the podium Monday.”We were negotiating salaries for coaches, and for me and in the end, it was close to what I had asked for,” Brooks said. “It wasn’t exactly what I had asked for, but that was not the overriding thing. Had they given me everything that I asked for in that regard, I probably would still be here making this same decision. As I went through the last week, it became clear to me that I was at peace with this.”Brooks, even if he was one of the only ones satisfied with the decision, ultimately sounded like a man comfortable with his decision to retire from football.”I have had texts and some other calls from players encouraging me to stay, as my own children did,” Brooks said. “It seems, at this point in time, the only person that was comfortable with this decision was me. But, like I said, when it is time, it is time. I just feel good that it is time to turn this program over to somebody else.”  
Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart met with Brooks last week and was willing to meet some of Brooks’ demands to keep him around. In the end, though, Barnhart said it was Brooks’ decision, one the coach had to be comfortable making.”Money can buy some things,” Barnhart said. “It can’t buy happiness, as the old saying goes. You’ve got to make sure that’s truly what’s in your heart. I can’t speak to what that was. I want Rich to be happy. He’s been a friend. He was a friend when he came here and I want his friendship when he leaves. It means a lot to me personally. I very much appreciate what he gave this program. He gave incredible energy and he gave incredible foundation and respect to this program.”Even in transition, Barnhart wants to see that those demands and improvements are met so the program can continue to evolve.Heading into the 2009 season, UK’s assistant coaches were ranked 19th in the nation in payroll, according to Barnhart, although those numbers were low by Southeastern Conference standards.”We were low in our league because our league is very top-end heavy, so we’ve got to make sure we’re doing the right things to keep our coaches in a spot where this is a place where they want to be as a destination, not as a transition,” Barnhart said.”We’ve done a pretty good job of keeping those assistant coaches here the past few years. That’s really, really important for us. Having said that, going forward we’ll always keep examining that and making sure that we’re competitive in that world. We may not be first, but we’re not going to be last. We’re going to be competitive and we’re going to make sure we do a good job of keeping the coaches we want to have here at Kentucky.”Upgrading UK’s football facilities also remains a top priority for Barnhart. “It has taken longer than I wanted, but that process, we’re working our way through it,” Barnhart said. “It is a very complicated, unique process that hopefully puts us in a position to do some things to our stadium that we get the design phase of it and go work our way through it and get through that in the next year and a half, two years and get going and have this thing going where we want it to be.”Those renovations and upgrades include improvements beyond just Commonwealth Stadium.”That includes a multi-purpose recruiting room, whatever you want to call that, and so those are the last pieces of the puzzle,” Barnhart said. “The team meeting rooms are being addressed. The weight room, we have done some renovations to the weight room right now, but there are some other things they would like to see done. That’s all do-able.”Although Brooks won’t officially be around to watch those improvements be made, he is interested in the continual evolvement of the program.”I am interested in staying around and watching the progress of the program,” Brooks said. “I hope that people will get behind the program even more to try to take it to the next level. I know that all the fans want that to happen and it is close to happening. I just hope that everybody will support it in a way that is necessary.”