I hate it, too... but what's effectively happened is that all of these Rich Schools and/or those with traditionally shady athletic departments, programs that've been effectively paying their players for decades, buying elite talents in exchange for SUCCESS on the field (#ReggieBushMattered), have now been given license to do so legally. And they're succeeding.
Nebraska has always prided itself on staying above the fray there, and we've really never been dinged by the NCAA as a result. Yay for us.
THIS HAS BEEN MY ENTIRE POINT - yes, you're correct, WE'RE SCREWED, if we don't adapt as a program. And we've made little to no effort to do so in the last several years. You're now seeing the results on the field, and I'm simply pointing out that this problem is NOT going away, no matter WHO we hire. No matter what type of 'rebuild' they choose to employ. If we don't pay elite talent, they're gonna go somewhere else (we'd be an entirely different program right now with JUST Raiola and Rouse on our team, IMHO). And unless we HAVE elite talent at key positions, any improvement will be measured. A standard deviation, here and there. You can only take a group of 3-star players to a certain level. We can make them 'better' than they've been in recent years with some better coaching and development, but we will NEVER compete with the Michigans, USCs, tOSUs...
It's just Math, fellas. We can adapt, or we can become Obsolete. Footnote of football history. That's our current trajectory.