They have also fostered a winning culture at their programs and instilled confidence in their players. A mediocre coach could have exceptional recruits and still lose plenty of games. Talent only really flourishes with proper structure, discipline, and confidence. 

That's how you account imo. We find ourselves in a position with mediocre-decent talent (owning to recruiting restrictions) with mediocre-decent coaching. It's not a good combination. I firmly believe that with exceptional coaching we would find ourselves to be competitive with many P-5 programs. Becoming an elite program requires both elite coaching and exceptional talent, neither of which BYU will ever be able to acquire.