1000%. Look no further than the much maligned Steve Lavin, who won 20 games 3 times for two tourney births (and should have been a third) in 5 years. Of course, Lavin was not squeaky clean, but one of the lines he drew was not hiring Tiny Morton. It probably cost Lavs his job. There are plenty of other examples.
The SH deal was made because Kevin Willard cares about Kevin Willard. Hiring Tiny kept him from getting canned. Period. If that investigation blows up, he will skip town before the fallout.