Both of them had one coach (LaVell/Majerus) who took them to a previously unprecedented level. Both of them replaced that legendary coach with a new guy (Crowton/Giacoletti) who did VERY well in the first season, then struggled in the next two before being fired.
And then BYU hired Bronco. Utah hired Boylen, then 80k and is still wandering in darkness more than 15 years after Majerus left.
If anything Utah had a more established/successful basketball program (success going back farther and across more than one head coach) than the BYU football program when LaVell left