Let's turn that logic around 180°. If you're the ISU AD, and one underperforming coach is dragging down support for the rest of your successful athletic teams, why wouldn't you kick that one coach to the curb? Or at least make your displeasure at his failure known to the public?
I can see your first point. JP knows as well as any of us that men's basketball is the weak link in the chain right now. Either he believes he can get by without it for now, or there is nothing he can do. I totally disagree with the bolded part. What good will keeping Mac around, yet throwing him under the bus at the same time, do? If Mac is going to stay here, the AD should support him as much as possible while he is here. Running around ******** because the team isn't winning will do nothing to improve the program (see these message boards).