Having athletics has nothing to do with the academics of a university. It is fun and it gives us another reason to support our school, but really BYU would not change that much if they dropped sports. My guess is that academics would actually get even better because they wouldn't have to admit kids who normally wouldn't get in without an athletic scholarship.
I would still push my kids just as hard to go to BYU but we would obviously have a different team to cheer for. That team would not be Utah.