It seems to me that Helfrich has been coaching as part of a "system." That he has never really been in charge of the program. The whole graduate transfer thing seems to me as a "logical" follow-up to the "next man up" mantra which was part of the system. The system always works as long as its successful. But once a system becomes known, it becomes predictable, stale, common, and eventually outdated. When things finally go bad (and the system was declining prior to this season), the smartest men/women in the room who created the system now look like fools for not adapting. In the end, what fixes the system is leadership, experience, savvy, and as much as we don't like to admit it, some good fortune or luck.  This is Mark Helfrich's chance to shine and become a great coach on his own terms, with his own players, and get rid of assistant coaches (if necessary) which don't fit his needs.  He is now, "the man in the arena".
http://mentalfloss.com/article/63389/roosevelts-man-arena