I admire you passion and am impressed with your flowchart Iggy.
But
MSU had plenty of chances to turn things around since 1976 and they ****ed it up on their own accord. And I just can't, for example, blame something like the hiring of BW, because the players liked him, on what happened in 1976.
MSU was well clear of that era and had a chance to move forward then, but they screwed the pooch on their own.