I hate to say it but the KEY to success is the Coaching Staff and the AD, the philosophy and the culture that they create. It's no surprise that coaches from all over the country fly in to observe Dabo and Co. do their thing. They seem to operate as ONE, with everybody on the same page, always.
Great facilities are an absolute prerequisite in today's world, and we have that right now. You MUST put the welfare of the players first ( their Moms demand it) and you have to be sincere about it.
Like it or not, Dabo et al have mastered that like no other coach, ever. Right now he is the Gold Standard. You have to gather great coaches and you have to pay them unbelievable amounts of money. Great coaches will turn 3*s into 4 and 5 stars. You have to be honest in all aspects of your program. I know Brandon Streeter a bit and if you spend 5 minutes with him ( he spoke to our Rotary Club and I chatted with him for some time) you would absolutely understand why Clemson is on top right now. They respect each other, they love each other, their bond is unbroken and they have a common goal. I could just feel his happiness and commitment. It was contagious. He said he would be happy to coach at Clemson forever !
The hard part is that, especially at USC, it will take many, many years to accomplish what we all want. It will require incredible patience on the part of us fans. Nobody, even Dabo, can do it overnight. And he started with a program that had already won a Natty and was respected as an excellent FB school already. Nobody really respects or fears our program, sadly.
First thing: START OVER: 1) Get ride of Tanner and Muschamp as practically as possible, given their contracts. No way they will take us to the Promised Land, no way in hell. 2) Throw huge money at the best coach and AD in the country. 3) Give him a blank check to hire the best assistants known to man ( yes, copy Dabo)! 4) Develop a drop dead great PR program to market us. 5) Be aware that we're in the same geographic area as UGa and Clemson, which will indeed require super human efforts by everyone regarding recruiting and marketing. 6) Expect at least 10-20 years, minimum, to become elite on a regular basis, maybe longer. 7) Put serious pressure on the BOT any way we can.
We do NOT have the luxury of doing things piece-meal and just plodding along as we've done forever.
I know I'll be trashed for invoking Clemson in my comments but, hey, we all know that they figured it out several years ago ( with no real format to start with), so let's learn from them and the Alabama's of the country and move on to greatness.