The only thing that had never been tried in Blacksburg, where there always seemed to be a hard ceiling on recruiting, was bringing in a coach with a national reputation. I used to compare it to South Carolina bringing in Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier. It was a credibility thing. Well, credibility has arrived in spades. I don't believe any of these massive donations would have arrived if we'd hired a Matt Campbell or Bob Chesney. They may be fine coaches, but would have been meet with a bit of relative apathy by comparison. To be fair, NIL is a big part of this. It's a ladder to the next level if you can afford it. Although I believe Franklin would make it rain if NIL didn't exist, I can't really say that it would be happening to this extreme, this quickly.

Not enough money, we don't land CJF, NIL really increased the importance of money. I realize we may not have "always thought" as NIL is relatively new, but funding has always mattered, it just matters significantly more with NIL.

the right coach with a competitive NIL budget can make VT a recruiting force.

I think it's because James Franklin blew it up! 😂 Mr. Clean is cleaning up in Recruiting!