Oregon's transformation is actually really interesting because it has been a 20 year process, and the Uncle Phil money is a bit too simple of an answer. Despite one of the more famous donors, Oregon still doesn't typically crack the top 10 in total annual donations, as your traditional schools still have much larger donor bases. But his money at least gets them close enough to compete.

The funding and facilities have helped, but so did one of the best "branding" campaigns (think audacious uniforms that kids loved), coaching stability (they haven't hired a head coach from outside their organization since 1977), and timing and program inertia.

I mention timing because Oregon was one of the biggest benefactors of the 85 scholarship limit that came into effect in 1994, which had a trickle down effect of talent to less traditional teams. Before 1994, they finished in the top 25 twice... ever. Since 1994 they've had 13 top 25 finishes (tied for 10th over that span). They also maintained positive trajectory over the last 20 years, which has helped grow the brand. The 2000 (#7) and 2001 (#2) seasons were the breakthrough seasons that opened the doors to bring in guys like Haloti Ngata and other better talent. And then Chip Kelly was the homerun coach that elevated them to a regular top 5 team and got them a seat at the table with the elite programs. That has further helped recruiting, where they are likely to pull in their 5th straight top 20 class (doesn't sound like much, until you realize they only had maybe one top 20 class before 2010).

Bottom-line, it takes more than just money to transform a program, but it probably is one of the essential ingredients.

This post was edited on 2/3/14 at 8:29 pm