I disagree that the AAC was more difficult than the Big East. You have to remember that the worst Big East teams were not nearly as bad as the worst AAC teams. If you look at UConn's Sagarin schedule rating during the Big East and AAC years, it show UConn played a tougher schedule in the Big East than the AAC. Here are the numbers:
Big East: 2004 to 2012: 61.9
AAC: 2013 to 2019: 77.0
The real problem was UConn football starting falling apart in 2012 and never recovered which made the AAC appear more difficult. Look at the Sagarin ratings:
Big East: UConn football 57.4
AAC: UConn football 126
If UConn had won in the AAC, fans would have come to games, although probably not as much as during the Big East days. Bottom line, UConn made 2 really bad head coaching hires that really tanked the program and UConn did not invest in the program. You can argue that UConn doesn't have the money, but look at the salaries over time in this table:
UConn: 2009: $1.5 million, 2022: $1.5 million
Cincinnati: 2009: $1.5 million, 2022: $5.0 million
Houston: 2009: $700k, 2022: $5.0 million
UCF: 2009: $1.15 million, 2022: $4.0 million