The answer to the original question is that World War II didn't kill the Gopher program.
Need I remind you that the Gophers went back to the Rose Bowl the following year after the tOSU faculty voted to decline the Tournament of Roses' invitation. They should have been tied with Ohio State for the title were it not for a phantom roughing-the-passer penalty in the 1961 Axe. The Gophers also tied for another in the fall of 1967. Incidentally, they beat co-tier with Indiana, who then went to the Rose Bowl on the last-to-Pasadena tiebreaker.
Ryan Barland at the Daily Gopher
wrote an article in 2017 attempting to answer the question. His synopsis was that the athletic department was awash in red ink and physical plant was ignored during the post-WWII boom, long before Malcom Moos ascended the presidency.
The Vikings started playing out at Met Stadium in Bloomington in the fall of 1960. It took them a while to get going, but in 1969 they went 12-2, won their first NFL title, and were the victims of what many considered the upset of the century in Super Bowl IV. Couple 3 more Super Bowl appearances in the 70s with terrible play from the Gophers, and it didn't take very long before the bottom had fallen out.
