cash is the #1 reason these top players signed with BYU. I'm sure Young has an impressive recruiting pitch and guys like his pedigree and NBA experience and focus, but none of them sign without the levels of cash we paid. Everyone of them got more cash than we had ever paid a BYU player during Pope era, and some of them got multiples of the most we had ever paid.
People can bag on Pope all they want but he had no where near the $$$ to hand out that Young has had access to. If Young only offered the max amount Pope was ever able to offer, none of these top guys would have signed.