Eco - info on UCSB.
You are right that athletics are not important at UCSB. Having said that, their soccer team competes at a high Div 1 level (above RU). As for basketball, their goal is always to do well in the Big West Conference and try to make the NCAA tournament. Both the men's and women's programs have a history of doing that. In Carlene's first year, with the previous coach's players (now the head coach at Cal) she went 17-16 but pulled off the upset and won the BWC tournament thus making the NCAAs. The next year she was 16-17, then 8 wins then 2. The latter reflect teams with players she recruited.
When Carlene was hired the second choice was the head coach at a small NAIA school in Santa Barbara. In the last two years she has won the NAIA championship and made the semi-finals, at a small religious college. She is the most likely successor at UCSB.
The UCSB women's program has always had a rabid, if small, support group of fans who have contributed much to the program. In the last two years that support has all but disappeared and attendance has dropped to a fraction of what it was.
As for whether or not it is a great place to be building a program, most people think the reasons you cited are exactly why you should be able to build a program there, not be handicaps. How many major universities are located right on their own beach? The climate is great, too. UCSB is one of the highest ranked schools in the world loaded with Nobel prize winners (way ahead of RU, see the 2 different world rankings posted elsewhere on this site) and is consistently ranked as one of the best party schools in the country. You would think all those things would aid in recruiting, not hurt it.
USCB does have to compete for recruits with the other Cal schools you mentioned, but there should be plenty left to compete in the BWC. To be a successful head coach you have to be good at 3 things: recruiting, motivating and Xs and Os. From all reports I hear, Carlene was great at Xs and Os.