1) Changed the culture right away and ran off several 4* guys that did not want to work hard and buy into the new culture. Things had gotten pretty loosey goosey at the end of Gus's reign...

2) Left several of his staff behind and hired a Proven DC in Derek Mason and hired Mike Bobo and Will Friend. Both guys have TONS of experience as SEC coaches and are proven Recruiters, particularly in GA where Bobos dad was a legendary high school coach

3) He fired his WR coach after a few games. Showed the team he was holding the coaches to the same standard and accountabilty he is holding the players too. Brought in his old OC to coach the WRs and they immediately are not dropping passes and running better routes. The old Wr coach several times was responsible for having 10 men on the field because he could not get the personnel groupings correct...

So back to the $$- AU gave him the support to do whats needed to implement change. Could/Would VT have fired Jafar mid season, eaten his contract and brought someone else in. Nope. And thats the difference between VT and how they do it in the SEC...