Clemson has not had 7 top 10 recruiting classes under Dabo. They've had 5, with 3 of them being in the last 3 years. This means the vast majority of Dabo's success at Clemson has come without him recruiting elite classes. Proof that you don't have to bring in elite recruiting classes to be a highly successful program. NEXT!!!!!
The part about Patterson and Fulmer is irrelevant. Patterson took over a mid-major program. He didn't have a single recruiting class ranked inside the top 50 before 2009 (and was still successful, btw). TN was an upper echelon team for most of Fulmer's 2000s tenure, and despite his shortcomings, he was pretty amazing as identifying and developing talent. And considering TCU consistently has been ranked outside the top 25 in recruiting, I'd say what he has done is pretty damn impressive. He's consistently sent more players to the NFL than TN has since 2009 despite the talent level being considerably different over this span. Again, proof that you don't have to be an elite recruiter to have a highly successful program. NEEXT!!!!!
And yes Iowa State and Matt Campbell. The same team that has beaten nearly TWICE as many top 25 opponents as TN since Campbell took over. And he's done it with extremely mediocre talent rankings in the 46-55 range. He took a program that was a combined 8-27 the 3 years before he arrived, and turned them into one of the better teams in the country. They are currently 8-1, sitting atop the Big 12. And since his 1st season, his record is 31-17. That's a .646 winning percentage. NEEEEXT!!!!
I've already mentioned Mullen. NEXXXXTTT
Chris Petersen at Washington is another great example. 3 straight 10 win seasons and not a single top 15 class. Not a single top 20 class before 2018.
NEXXXXXXTTTTT!!!!!!!