I remember years back some CU donor was loaded, billionaire type. I don't remember his name. Wtf happened to him, is he dead?
If you go back to when we were actually good we had a number of well off supporters who made it possible to make the moves needed to be competitive.
One of these was Jack Vickers, the owner of Vickers Petroleum and who built Castle Pines Golf Club and who was the driving force behind The International on the PGA tour. Interestingly enough Vickers was born in Colorado but was not a CU grad having gone to (and not graduating from) Oklahoma.
A low point was when he facilitated CU hiring Chuck Fairbanks but when it became obvious it was a mistake he ponied up the check to send him on his way.
There are people out there with the means and the willingness to change the trajectory of the CU program. Colorado does not lack for wealthy individuals and families, many who have ties to the university.
What it does lack is a reason for those people to be motivated to be involved in the university.
The medical center campus was one of the biggest fund raising efforts by a university in the nation over the past decade. By almost all standards it is an unqualified success.
Are there more wealthy potential donors in Alabama, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, etc. than Colorado? I doubt it. The problem is that here those people put their money elsewhere and I would argue that is because the University lacks vision and fails to inspire these people with an expectation of results.
One common thread among those who become or stay very wealthy is a focus on success, on results. What about CU Boulder, athletically or otherwise currently screams anything more than mediocre. If someone is going to write a seven figure check what are they going to see as a result? What can they brag to their wealthy friends about contributing to over a drink in the lounge.
I don't know this jerdough character from someone on the street but he isn't wrong in saying that the capacity to change CU football exist. Where he fails is that the university itself doesn't give potential donors a reason to make the move.