Born in Bahía Blanca, Basile started his playing career at Club Bella Vista in his home city.

Basile totalized 186 matches with Racing Club before moving to Huracán, where he was a mainstay of the 1973 Metropolitano champions under coach César Luis Menotti.

In July 2006, he was once again offered the position of Argentina national football team coach and accepted the job taking over from José Pekerman.

Before starting his new job, Basile stayed with Boca Juniors until 14 September 2006, when the team won a second consecutive Recopa Sudamericana 2006 with a victory over São Paulo FC of Brazil.

Vocal about his preference for the Italian Serie A and the Spanish La Liga over the English league, he made waves in England when he called for Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to transfer to Italy, claiming the switch would be better for the latter "even if he would have to play in the second division" with Juventus.

[7] But after a series of bad results, especially the failure to qualify for the Copa Libertadores 2010 and a crushing 3–1 defeat to archrivals River Plate during a summer tournament at Mar del Plata, he resigned on 21 January 2010.

[8] On 26 December 2011, Basile returned to Racing Club for his fourth spell as their coach, taking over from Diego Simeone.

[9] One year later, he resigned after a confusing incident in the Estadio Libertadores de América's change room, with Racing forward Teo Gutiérrez being accused of pointing a gun at a teammate.

[11] Basile has occasionally appeared in some interviews and the TV show Buenos Muchachos (Good Guys) where he participated along with fellow Héctor Veira and singer Cacho Castaña.