The Big East has coherence and a reasonable chance of success (given how mid some of the teams have been). You look at a job like Syracuse and you're flying to Palo Alto for a conference game or Dallas. It's a huge mess—and a coach has Duke-UNC-Louisville standing in their way (along with other programs like Virginia that has recently won a title). The path forward is just brutal, especially if you aren't convinced you're going to get the resources.
Big East has UConn and a huge opening. There's a bunch of solid programs that compete in that next tier, most notably Villanova. A good coaching hire, like Pitino to St. John's, can win you the conference and get you to a Sweet 16.
It's part of the reason why Maryland lost their coach to Villanova (though I'd say Villanova is historically a tier above Maryland).
The NCAA is going to do things to kill non-football schools soon enough, but I'm hopeful the Big East's weakness this year is an aberration, and that the longer decline will take place after UConn has found a landing place.