I believe you need to look back around 20 or 25 years to see how the actions of a very small group of donors have impacted the program to where it is today. Not only did they do it with money (most weren't/aren't wealthy people) but they would go out and "Sell" the program. I have no ties to VCU whatsoever other than a long time supporter/donor would regularly give me his extra tickets, always selling me on me how good VCU would be in the very near future, I needed to get in before it was too late. Within a couple of years, I and my family became addicts and financial supporters for a couple decades now. No chicken and egg for me, without an effort from supporters and staff to build a program, culturally and monetarily, there likely would not have been a JC, AG, SS a F4, BB training center, the A-10 without these believers/dreamers. It seems this group hasn't forgotten the history, the history that most of the current department has little or no knowledge of.
Heck, I remember my Senior year of HS... I was applying for colleges, VCU was one of them because it was close to home, wasn't trying to go halfway across the country... or even outta state for that matter.
I had gotten invited to a VCU Basketball game (against Towson) & pre-game dinner in the Aux. Gym, what is now the commonwealth room for games. Had absolutely no idea why I had gotten invited. None of my family immediate or otherwise had connections to VCU. So we go to this pre game dinner & a bunch of us are trying to figure out why we got invited? Some had parents or family members who were VCU Alums... others didn't. Some had family members who were season ticket holders, others didn't. Some people like myself were applying to VCU for college, others didn't.
So none of us could really figure out why we got invited to this pre-game dinner & game. But we all enjoyed it, socialized & then went to the game, and of course me being a diehard sports fan... I was already happy just to go see a college basketball game.. as I had never been to one at that time. I had no idea what to expect from the crowd or anything... but the place was electric & of course I was yelling at the refs for terrible calls cheering on VCU (when it came to sports I was Rowdy before I even knew what the Rowdy Rams were lol). I knew that is where I belonged & honestly felt at home in the STU.
Not too long after that day, I got my acceptance letter from VCU... and without hesitation, I said yep I'm going to VCU... & the rest is history. Then I made sure to watch every VCU game I could especially the GMU CAA champ. game & the Duke NCAA Tourney game that year.
The very next year, one of my friends from HS who was a year behind me... got the same invite from VCU for a pre-game dinner & game... a few weeks later he got his acceptance letter too. May have just been coincidence... but I'll be honest, between the random invitation to a pre-game dinner, and the atmosphere at the game that night.... That influenced my decision on where to go to college A LOT... cause it was apparent they wanted me to come there. And I don't regret my decision at all.
TBH... before all that... I knew absolutely NOTHING about VCU other than they were a school in Richmond.