Actually is wasn't that easy for Bear. They wouldn't let him recruit black player. He schedule USC purposely, so they could kick the crap out of Bama. Embarrassed, the powers at be let him start recruiting black players and agreed to accept them. I have no idea what Bear's personal feeling were but regardless of motivation, he was a positive force. Your right about the reasons, just point out that Bear intentionally exposed the weakness in proactive effort to recruit blacks. I have family up there who worship Bama and Bear and I was alive when this happened. You might understand or might not but trust me, he risked a lot personally with that move. Whatever his motivation, he kind of broke the dam on the football filed.
I was there when Ray first stepped on field as Cane. It was only 3 or 4 years before Michell(I think Bear actually flipped him from USC) at Bama. Actually Michell had an offer of an academic scholarship from Bama before that but was committed to USC for football. The big delta for Miami was Howard recruiting black players not exactly fitting norms -- Howard went to the "hood" so to speak. For me , most of the guys he recruited were not "thugs". They seemed to enjoy that rep more than they deserved it. Either way, he took kids who probably could not really drive through Coral Gables at the time(Although that is bit of a stretch by then).
All that said, I hate seeing our kids going anywhere but The U. Nowhere is there more a family for them to join rather than a quick atm hit. We relish them while others merely put up with them. Nobody has the family our older players created and continue to support. not sure you can put a price on that. The real difference between The U and every other school is not a date on the calendar or its location; it is the fact that everything we are was the product of all those players who did it. It was not the adminstation or rich donors or tradition, or even a legendary coach it was those kids who became men before our eyes every week and still come back in numbers others can only dream of. They built the tradition, helped the school flourish and made coaches leendary. That is why it is crazy for ANY player, regardless of color, to go any place but THE U.