Players. You need lots of really, really good players to field a top-shelf football program consistently. It's purely a numbers game. Unless you can sign a 4-star and, maybe on occasion, a 5-star to line-up across from your opponent's 4 and 5 star athletes, you'll never be at an elite level consistently.
You can hire Nick Saban and build a domed stadium (with monorail) and it won't matter until you can get 30-40 guys to play the other team's 30-40 guys.
And that's not going to happen on the current admin's watch. It just isn't. Now, unlike BKF, I think it can be changed but it must be from the top. Hiring a big-name coach isn't going to solve the problem. Might bring in a few more 4 stars but he'll still be fighting the admin over other players and no high profile coach wants to spend 7x24 pleading with Hatch and Martha Allman for every scrap they can get. By the way, I think we have a great coach. He just needs 100% support to field a team that can compete for championships. I hope he is now receiving that. I highly doubt that he is.
I accept it for what it is. Will always pull hard for the Deacs. But talking about bringing back legacies and cutting down nets is like picking out curtains when you can't afford the house. We need to start working on the foundation first and that begins with a fundamental commitment to big-time sports. Until then, GO DEACS!!