This one just doesn’t add up at all.

When I read the headline and story in Tuesday’s paper I thought I was hallucinating from sunstroke.

How does a college basketball coach get a three-year contract extension when his program is under NCAA investigation — a probe that has been ongoing for nearly four months now?

How does that same coach deserve the highest salary in the conference when after two seasons his team’s record in the league is 19-15 — with zero wins in the conference tournament either season?

Now, if you want to make a case that Gib Arnold has earned the $365,000 for each of the next three seasons — and it’s apparent Arnold has some powerful supporters and awesome representation — you might point at the Rainbow Warriors’ record from last year and say that 20 wins is 20 wins.

That’s fine, except not all 20-win seasons are equal in college basketball. Far from it. UH built its impressive-looking ledger last season against mostly cupcakes, and playing in a conference that is mediocre at best.

Even if the conference records of 10-8 and 9-7 in 2012-13 and 2013-14 were reversed in order, would it be enough improvement to merit a long-term extension? Not in my mind. Not in most minds.

Not playing in the Big West.

And not while your program remains under the cloud of NCAA investigation.

We knew Arnold had some powerful backers downtown when he got the UH job four years ago. And we learned early on that his representative, attorney Russell Kaupu, is a sharp one. Back in 2011 Kaupu got Arnold a sweet raise after one 19-13 season, partly due to UH’s bumbling.

But getting this more recent deal done took some serious juice and chutzpah. Consider the timing:

In addition to the aforementioned NCAA situation being unresolved, Arnold gets a $21,000 raise to his base salary at a time when the athletic department is in financial turmoil and is under orders to watch every penny.

Now, we know that deletion of the bonuses for autograph sessions and ridiculously easy attendance benchmarks make the raise pretty much a wash. But when perception is reality this adds up to another public relations problem. Most fans don’t want to pay a coach who is barely over .500 a thousand dollars a day, even if some of it is coming from boosters.

Knowing what the going rate is for college coaches, I’m not as much concerned by the amount of the salary as the length of the contract.

If this is about recruiting as we’re led to believe, a simple one-year rollover would have been fine — under the condition that all bets are off if the NCAA comes in hard.

Regarding recruiting, the Rainbow Warriors had better hope that 6-foot-6 Sammis Reyes gets academically eligible. UH is bereft of quality big men for the upcoming season other than Isaac Fotu.

The guys who do get into school have generally done well in the classroom, and Arnold deserves some credit for that. And the revolving door of players transfering out of Manoa has slowed to a more acceptable rate.

Ideally, UH’s coaches should have the highest salaries in the Big West … but only because they are winning championships, graduating their players and keeping their programs out of trouble with the NCAA.

One out of the three isn’t enough.

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.