Thought the OP had a great post.
The main challenge for UT always has been and always will be recruiting. With very little talent-wise within Tennessee, other SEC teams with rich in-state recruits (SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TX) maintain a distinct, long-term advantage over UT.
F.U. Kiffen and his staff knew how to "recruit", but the guys they drew in were big-time recruits in name only: They were largely self-absorbed thugs, as time has proven.
I give props to DD on his recruiting: The guys we have are STICKING with the program. Only Douglas to my recollection was the only talented guy to bail on DD, and obviously, he had serious off the field issues.
The way I see things, it will always be an uphill battle for us to recruit. When times get tough - as they did over the past 5 years - that just trebles the difficulty for us to recruit and turn the team around. In contrast, look at Florida State when they made a coaching change... BOOOOOM in comes the HUGE recruiting class stocked with 5* and 4* IN STATE guys.
That's why GA, FL, and BAMA can turn things around faster than UT.
Always has been that way. Always will be.
DD is on the right track.