re: How did Tennessee become such a dumpster fire after being a traditional power for decades?

Yes. Full circle. Cause and effect. They got the great recruits in with promise of a mini kingdom with no accountability. That produced a lot of NFL players. The difference between them and Miami was that Miami really didn’t have to leave the state of Florida. When the snitch went in to save UTs arse, their compliance changed everything and nothing has been the same since.