The reason we even have a FBS level football program is in part due to those 4 MBB championships. Without the basketball program making UConn a reputable national brand, the university doesn’t grow like it did to support an FBS level program.
When UConn hired Lew Perkins as AD in the early 90s he wanted to take the program FBS but UConn was in a major budget crisis and that really hamstrung that move.
The growth of the school in the late 90s and early 2000s because of basketball made it possible. Between 1995 and 2004 out of state student enrollment doubled, signaling that UConn was now on the national map.
At this point, basketball success or failure is irrelevant because the school now has national brand recognition, thanks to those 4 championships. Football needs to get it done on its own merits now.
In any business you can’t live off your laurels forever. If Randy 2.0 taught us anything at a lower level.
The time to get better abd achieve results is now.