I think a good recruiting staff is more important at a school like Tech than it is at many places. The difference in recruiting results between a great recruiting staff and an average one at programs like UGA, Florida, Texas, etc. is minimal since they're going to be top 10 either way. But at Tech that can be the difference between classes in the 20s and classes in the 50s.
And yes, of course the actual coaching is key to winning and no one is going to be happy with a Gailey-esque ceiling. A distressingly large number of Tech fans get caught up in this false dichotomy of "good coaching or good recruiting."