a few people here seem to think money is everything.
I have been offered a position paying much more at another company, and turned it down. The company that offered didn't have near the benefits, the VP was known to be an a-hole, the clients had a reputation of being difficult to work with, and the company had a high employee turnover rate. It didnt want to pay the staff under me what was needed to be competitive, and the location didn't have a wealth of qualified people to fill the positions in the area. On top of that, they wanted me to relocate to a small town that had nothing worth writing home about. It was clear that the position was not setup to succeed.
I am not in any way saying that this is the current state of the coaching position at NU, but to think that throwing money at someone is going to fix everything is just ignorant.
There is also the factor of family - never underestimate the sway a coach's wife and kids, staff and others around him have on the choice of where he works. If a given family is well established in a given community (church, school, other jobs and careers, etc etc), to pull up stakes and simply move to an entirely new place can be quite life changing and may be difficult. Yes, the families of big time athleticis (or other high profile professions of most any kind) can have a life similar to a TV or radio personality or a military family. They may move many times (everyday people do as well) and the decisions on who, what, where, why and so on all come into consideration. It is not just money, although when one gets to the many millions of dollars you are talking about 'life changing' money like winning the lottery in a way. But, never underestimate the 'other factors' besides the features of the job itself.
Nebraska has to sell not only the football program, facilities, fans, stadium, Big Ten, tradition, pressure to win, recruiting challenges, current status of the team, etc, etc etc but also must sell the entire package (living in Lincoln, Nebraska, the local schools, social aspects, weather, amenities, and so on). Many people prefer sunny warm climates but many others don't. You have to find a great 'fit' all around.