once you made it legal, you opened the door to sports obsessed schools with huge, rich alumni to open their pocketbooks. michigan, ohio state, indiana...
it was always a benefit to michigan once they got comfortable with the idea. now that they are, you see them winning.
with that said, dusty may was the biggest part of that. football has more money than god but couldnt get out of its own way, michigan put together a great team, and then coached them well enough to win.
dusty earned that big ol raise he's about to get.