...my point was that there wasn't some massive spike in revenue that preceded improvement in football performance. They most certainly go hand in hand and it isn't always easy to figure out which is the catalyst.

I would argue that getting a dynamic head coach who can recruit and motivate players and build a culture (and get him on the cheap because he was your WR coach) was probably the first big step. He recruited well, slowly and incrementally improved the program...had an exciting vision, culture, and style that I'm sure helped the fundraising efforts...and then Clemson went and got fantastic coordinators (Chad Morris and Brent Venables).

Once that flywheel is started, they most certainly feed one another (to mix metaphors). Recruiting helps the winning and the winning helps the fundraising and the fundraising helps the recruiting (via better facilities and coaches). But where to start? Clemson started with Dabo.