I think the notion that you have to choose between success in basketball and football is incredibly idiotic.
Totally agree.
And looking at this like a business football is most important. But having a successful basketball program can bring in a significant amount of money in revenue, as well as be important in intangible ways- alumni $, recruiting, etc. KU football looses their school $5 million a year, but because of basketball and alumni they manage to make some pocket change.
You have to want to diversify your programs. Those schools that hang their hat only on football and aren't Alabama, UT, OSU, or Oklahoma really hurt $ when their football team doesn't perform. And by the way of those 4 teams mentioned, 3 have good basketball teams.
It shouldn't be that hard to put together a good basketball team. More games & more cupcakes should easily yield a high win %. All you have to do is recruit about 7 good players (not even that many a year) and coach them.
As the CEO of the athletics Currie is doing well right now. Last season all departments outperformed expectations. But one of the department heads looks like he will not be able to deliver. He needs to fix that, otherwise there is less wiggle room in the other departments for failure.