it used to be that entry was free. Now you have to pay to get in. And people do. Typically the facility is pretty full for weekend games, particularly against ACC teams. For NCAA games, it's usually lots of folk are standing.

IIRC, the talk about shutting the program down were informal, off-the-record, but it is true that the program was in extremely bad shape

All that said, the big change was the hiring of Brian O'Connor. UVa simply went from a team that only made the NCAAs intermittently to a fixture. O'Connor has made the NCAAs every single year he's been head coach. IIRC, he's made the CWS 4 of the last 5 years. He's been to the finals and he's won the finals. This breeds excitement, even among people who are not baseball people.

You guys know this. Before Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech football had good years. (I even watched sat in Lane Stadium in 1969 and watched Virginia Tech lose and lose a close game to Alabama, but 3-4 points IIRC.) But it was spotty. After Beamer got going, it was a pretty steady diet of good football.

IMO, the first step is the right head coach. The next step is making the transition from one good head coach to the next. If you get that right, you can build a program in which the transition from head coach to head coach is not quite so tricky. As much as it pains me, look no further than UNC basketball. Between Dean Smith and Roy Williams, they went through some trying times. Weathered it just fine.

I digressed a bit, but I trust I answered your main questions. And the point of the digression is that the right head coach trumps everything, except for program strength. Alabama football. UCLA basketball. And so on.