I'm sure a lot of the incoming NIL is due to KY's vision, experience, connections, etc. But I'm guessing Pope's attitude and relationships with the donors also played a role. There have been rumors for years that Pope butt heads with admin, donors, players, etc.

As just one example, Pope and Santiago were on famously bad terms (rumored to be over disagreements about how NIL should be managed). In comparison, in an interview from just last week, KY called out Santiago's influence and help as a big reason why KY was able to hit the ground running and marshal all the donors.

Personally, I think Pope saw BYU as a stepping stone to another job and so he was willing to burn bridges to try for potential short-term gains. But that kind of bad blood comes back to haunt you when you're going into your 5th or 6th season and you need immediate NIL to pay Ques, for example. Basically, I think the NIL uptick is due some to KY, some to Pope. So if Pope were to be miffed that he didn't get as many resources at BYU as KY, the first place he should look is in the mirror.