Every school has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to recruiting. Clemson has the disadvantage of being in rural SC and few African American students. We have the advantage of being in Atlanta. We have an academic advantage for the right prospect and a disadvantage for others.
But you don't fish for blue marlin in a lake. If you look at the football recruiting footprint, it's the equivalent of doing just that (and running an offense that kids don't want to play in).
GT's problem is money. Homer Rice was a fund raiser. He retired with the GTAA in good financial shape. Braine sat on his fat butt in his remodeled office and spent money and didn't raise money--and gave stupid coaching contracts. Radakovich spent money, mostly for good purposes, but left with a lot of debt on the books. We then went for a few years without an AD.
Clemson figured out how to overcome their disadvantages, even if they are not playing by the rules. We need to figure out how to play by the rules and overcome disadvantages. It can be done, but it takes money we don't currently have. So step one is fund raising. If the Hill is a problem, that's where it lies. They don't want to compete with the GTAA for donations.
I'm sick of the academic excuse as exemplified by the OP. Every time we lose to an opponent it's automatically the Hill's fault-- according to a lot of so called fans that don't see the advantages GT has. That's just stupid.