from this outsider's perspective, it appears the AD did a tremendous job (about the same time the TV revenue fell to rock bottom) of being as frugal and efficient as possible and deserve credit where due. it's obvious MU, for the most part and over the long term, gets pretty high marks for doing the most for what they have to work with...this in itself should make Herd fans proud.
those occasional surpluses would seem to me to be absolutely necessary to reserve for future down-revenue years for basic operations, i.e. less gate revenue, less "pay days".
as far as infrastructure improvement priorities, i think visitor locker rooms should not be any where near the top of the list of priorities. fan experience should be the top priority period and i don't necessarily mean reducing gate pricing...and then consider low-cost or reasonable upgrades such as mentioned, to the Dot.
this doesn't mean that the AD/top leadership's job are absolved from the responsibility of raising money for major infrastructure....and neither are alumni and fans (baseball field, etc).