Coaching contracts are about optics and stability as much as they are about results. That's just how the modern college football ecosystem works.
Recruiting and staff retention all hinge on long term stability and buy-in from fans/boosters. If you don't extend a coach during critical times like these, you're sending the opposite message that you might not see him as the long term answer. And then what happens next? Opposing coaches use that against them on the recruiting trail every day.
Rhule's value isn't just about a record but what people think he's building and the culture he's established, plus his past evidence of turning programs around. Locking him in isn't a panic move IMO but a strategic signal that they're all in on the guy. And honestly, the fact they're doing this before the "difficult stretch" of the schedule just kind of reinforces that point - they're not scoreboard watching in the moment but trying to signal confidence in the direction and not just the destination.
I totally get why the record doesn't necessarily make it feel like the sexiest move but hyper-focusing on that element of it sort of misunderstands what's actually happening and why.