I've said this before about Barnett and I will say it again. He is a good football coach that got caught in a PR situation that he wasn't prepared to handle and got hung out to dry by a spineless administration. CU football got the Duke Lacrosse treatment from Mary Keenan and the administration of the university at the time didn't have the courage to stand up and fight for what was right.
The result was that Barnett was forced into a position of trying to defend himself and his players against a skilled attacker in a media environment that was looking for blood, he may have been very well equiped to adjust to an extra safety in the box or wide splits from the offensive line he was not prepared to deal with an ambitious lawyer once she got the ear of Paula Woodward at Channel 9 and Rick Reilly at SI.
Barnett did get paid very well for leaving but he also got stained in a way that has prevented him from getting another job doing what he loves, coaching. Even with all that I respect him completely because it would have been very easy for him to blame the university (with reason,) blame the players and assistants who were involved in the marginal stuff that gave the story just enough legs to keep going, blame the media, etc. Instead he has been very classy about the whole thing. I have never once heard him blame his assistants, he has stood solidly in support of his players, and he still says positive things about the university.
He may not have been the best coach CU ever had but he accepted blame for his faults and gave credit to others for his successes. Considering what we have now, and hopefully given an administration with a bit more backbone, I would prefer him to Hawk in an instant.