Honestly, once the C7 said they were leaving (really, after Louisville left), he needed to be very proactive. He needed to invite any and all other vaguely successful football programs, especially out West, in an effort to keep Boise and SDSU. He should have done his damnedest to make sure after B1G, SEC, B12, P12, ACC, the Big East was clearly the next best conference--and some years better than some of those conferences. You do that by negotiating all the other major programs into you league--and programs that are vaguely good at basketball, perhaps, as well. New Mexico, Nevada, UNLV, Boise, SDSU, and whoever else. He could have made it a 16 team conference, two clear divisions to minimize travel. When we still had Boise and SDSU, these things were possible.
The game was lost when we lost them. And we lost them because we put our eggs in the Air Force/BYU basket without other, innovate options available.
So, yes, Aresco has failed. I felt bad for him before, now I'm angry at him...