It’s never going to be easy.
I’ve explained this probably a 100 times on these boards to deaf ears lol...
In order to recruit at Bama/UGA OH ST etc levels it will cost upwards of $25mill-30mill a year for at least 5 years straight in order to have a roster with 40+ 5-stars. TAMU cracked open the vault this class & have always recruited well, but this class & the next they’re upping the ante.
There’s an alternative, it’s realistic to expect to be able recruit on those levels especially for a small program like ours that has never really spent money, but you can still find a way to win games & compete for conference titles with excellent evals, player development & yes the dreaded X’s & O’s (which I know yall hate lol)...
There’s a wide gap between the powerhouse programs that spend astronomical amounts of money & the programs that simply lean into their culture & place the emphasis on coaching their way to competitiveness.
Pitt doesn’t spend half the money that Clemson does, yet they still won 11 games & the ACC last year, same with OK ST, they’re not as much of a cash cow as Texas, TAMU etc, yet they still won 12 games & the Big XII, Utah doesn’t spend much money on football either but they still won the Pac-12, were they playoff teams? No, but they all had more success than they’ve experienced in years & they’re headed in the right direction as programs.
Miami fans just need to stop always trying to have a “Bama or bust” mentality, we’re never going to recruit on that level or be in the CFP every year like them either, but as long as we’re competitive & contending for the ACC on an annual basis that’s more than enough, it’s certainly a **** of a lot better than what we’ve been for the last two decades.