With the right coach, it doesn’t matter what the record is when they take over, they begin to win right away.
When Saban took over Alabama they went 6-6 his first year and were national title contenders quick, same for Kirby Smart.
Miami was on the verge of giving up football until Howard Schnellenberger took over started their dynasty by recruiting the best players out of South Florida.
FSU had gone 1-10 and 0-11 in back-to-back years until Bobby Bowden took over and had a 30-year run of greatness.
When Spurrier took over at Florida, they had not won more than 6 games in a number of years and he wins 9 the first year and then dominated the SEC for a decade.
The point is, getting the right coach is the key, if you do, you can win pretty quickly, but it takes multiple great recruiting classes in a row to compete for a national title.
Not about the Xs and Os but the Jimmy and Joes. All about recruiting. Alabama knew this, and had plenty of bag money the last 10 years, but NIL leveled the field. Some great teams mask average coaches...see Gus Mahlzahn and Jimbo Fisher.