If you follow athletic department funding and fund raising, no "poor" school could raise the kind of private money that Currie has raised. You can't be a "poor" school and have access to those kinds of funds within your donor base. Just because previous AD's lacked both the will and the ability to raise that kind of money, doesn't make K-State "poor". For example, it wouldn't have taken much at all to grow the Ahearn Fund like Currie has, but people like Tim Weiser weren't interested in that, because that would mean, you know, doing a little marketing, and actually engaging more people. That deters from planning deer hunting trips and getting the Ol King Ranch shined up. K-State has had $62 million in private contributions in the last 2 fiscal years alone between the Ahearn Fund and capital giving. Other AD's at similar schools would kill for that kind of private giving.
Some schools considered to be "rich" have 2x-3x-4x the debt load than K-State, and only have the kind of money they have because they have huge stadiums they can stuff with more ticket buying poors.