While it is true that Spyre agreed to help with first year guarantees for basketball recruits, the number you're quoting there is not even close to the "standard NIL offer." You're off by six figures. I know in one case this cycle, the UT staff was outbid by a pretty substantial margin, but the player decided to come here anyway because the coaches worked to build a relationship while the school that thought itself to be the favorite just relied on the financial offer and assumed they were good. They're outworking everyone else on the trail and that's why they're getting results.
The current staff works on the recruiting trail with a relentless reputation. Several of my firm's WBB clients have told me that they saw Lazo and Tubner everywhere this summer and fall, to the point there is a joke in coaching circles that they've cloned themselves. Caldwell is building a reputation as a relationships coach.
I really liked members of the last staff. We did contract work for a couple of them. But they sold the Tennessee brand and history to kids and got completely outworked in every other area. They got way behind when Lacey was running the recruiting operation and never really recovered. Sam was out a lot, but she was the only one building relationships. Jon and Kellie went to a lot of tournaments, but... While it's certainly true they were behind in what they could offer in first-year NIL guarantees, they were outworked and the NIL stuff became an easy scapegoat.
I know you're good friends with a couple of my current clients, FormerLadyVolFan, so I'm trying to be respectful. But I couldn't let those numbers you threw out go.