He tried overtly when he fired Leahy, hired Brennan, and cut scholarships way back. But the young Father Ted didn't have the stroke to make it stick at that point. 25 years later, his status was unassailable, he was much cannier in the ways of bureaucracy, and he tried a back-door approach by hiring Faust.
Now, 35 years later, de-emphasis is more of an idea whose time is just around the corner. If the power five conferences agree on paying the players, I think people will be astonished at how quickly it will happen.