Did MBob approve and fund the indoor practice facility? It was completed before MBob was even on campus.
The recruiting staff question has a lot more to do with time and ability to scout players. At places like Duke, the coaching staff gets involved with players after their film has been reviewed, the high school/high school coaches have been contacted, rival schools have been contacted for information on the players, etc. Until recently at GT(and even still at GT based on recruiting staff size), the coaching staff was doing the majority of that work. In addition to 80-90 hour weeks, the coaches had to do all of the preliminary video scouting, contacting high schools, getting feedback from opposing coaches ... All before they even began to talk to the players and decide a board of who they wanted to go after the most. Places like Duke can begin with lists of kids, preliminary athletic grades, preliminary academic grades, preliminary social grades. At GT, the coaches were having to generate the list of kids, identify those who they believed could succeed at GT, identify those who posed social issues. After multiple man-months of effort, then the GT staff was at the point where Duke's staff started with recruiting. Until Q2 2018, the coaches had to do all of the analysis, and then do all of the road visits. You can find information out during the road visits, but if you depend on that, you are months behind on schools with sufficient staff.
The extra staff and extra money can go very far whether you believe it or not.
@iceeater1969 has complained that GT hasn't recruited areas of Texas very hard. If GT had had extra money and staff, then staff could analyze kids in the area and present lists for the coaching staff to use to visit those areas. Money could be used to send coaches to those areas.(In general, not just talking about Houston) You can even have the staff find information out about freshmen or middle school players and have the coaches ask about them. You probably aren't going to actually make an offer to a middle school player.(and can't make an official offer) However, asking coaches about them will get back to the kids, and maybe your school is high on that young kid's list of dream schools.
Saying that GT was able to keep up with Duke in recruiting despite the financial disadvantages seems to be admission that GT's staff did an excellent job with substantially less support. It seems odd to me that people seem to make professions that: GT can't recruit at all. Then, GT recruits well at some positions, but can't recruit at the positions that matter. Then, GT recruits just as well as other teams, so we can't discuss the recruiting disadvantages that GT has had. The bar just keeps moving to fit whatever the poster wants to say.
