I don’t disagree on our being cheap. But the schools referenced above are not. I don’t think the vols were cheap or stopped caring. They canned a NC winner and went aggressive to counter us and Alabama. I don’t think USC fell apart because of not wanting to spend. They fell apart because they made a bad move, tried to recover and either doubled down or had to accept defeat(Dooley, Jones, Helton). As I said, college football moves fast. Before you know it, no one knows who you are any more.
Even a traditional power like Alabama essentially went dormant for a decade from the late ‘90s until ‘08. Are you trying to tell me that the state of Alabama and its fans didn’t care or refused to spend to get things back? And after it all, they tried their best to hire Rodriguez before he, lucky for them, bailed.
As I said, when guys like Pruitt, Diaz and Taggart were hired, their coaching ability may have been questioned, but it was all about their recruiting. None have cracked the Top10 yet. The brand and its standing matters.