This.. the whole NIL thing threw a lot of programs off, and some that capitalized on it early to great success, however once things settle down with the rules etc, those that got thrown off, may find it easier to get back on and return to their prior success tier. Not guaranteed, but I thought the Penn State move was way short sighted and others are making similar knee jerk reactions..
Some haven't navigated NIL as well, and fear they are on the cusp of missing out, when they see a handful of teams all of a sudden in the top 25 that never used to be there, and their own team starts performing poorly.
I do think a smart AD is going to understand that to be successful, they have to balance their NIL budget with the type of system that they are going to run, coaching and staff salaries and sizes etc. Throwing money at problems is successful to a certain point, but can easily be overdone. Administrations need a CFO (if they don't already have one). Someone who can manage all the different sources of capital and expenses, and tailor those in such a way to give a team an edge.
For some teams, they could do with less administrative staff and that extra million dollar player or rwo, while other teams need less spent on NIL and more spent of student retention and facilities.