Finances have a great deal to do with culture. If you don't have enough money to hire an F. Lee Bailey type to defend you in court, you can opt for a Public Defender. Guess which one will try his darnedest to get you off, and which one will try to get you to accept a plea deal, because he's overworked?
The complacency of doing well, and never being under the gun about your results across the board in sports is the ultimate goal of most ADs. Alvarez filled that requirement, at the cost of the overall advancement of the program from the level he'd inherited it. It's time that "comfort zone" is set aside, and changes that can get the program into the 21st century start.
I'm not in the slightest bit invested in believing that was the intent, when they replaced Alvarez. I think they figured this to be another person who would maintain the status quo.