Elias is the architect of the rebuild, which as you well know, is far from complete. He has put many things into place (spent valuable time and money), and If he were to leave before it is finished, there is a chance that whomever succeeded him would have different priorities (for better or worse) thus setting the timeline back for the rebuild. I don’t doubt that someone else could do the job, but I worry that it would set back the timeline.
Also, in all seriousness, please explain how tanking is cheating.