you might be slightly misreading their motivations. I always took their grip to mean they were complaining more about the style of offense and VT's inability to attract the high profile skill players from VA (i.e. Percy Harvin). Instead of modernizing the offense to increase VT's odds of these high profile players from leaving the state, VT opted to go out of state (excluding maybe FL) to find players to fit the current scheme. The reason I mentioned FL is because there was a period of time where VT wasn't actively targeting FL recruits because of the level of competition. Instead, VT would wait for a FL recruit to show interest in VT before would start to recruit that player.

I do agree with you that the 20+ years of success has helped build VT into a national brand. At times I do wonder if the 1999 MNC appearance was a missed window of opportunity for Coach Beamer to cast a nationwide net.