The Lakewood population of 30 years ago is nothing compared to what it is now. When you only had a few hundred families sending to Gemara-only Mesivtas and there were other options open, it wasn’t such an issue. Now there are tens of thousands of families and even less options than there were 30 years ago.
For most frum families living in certain communities the options are extremely limited. And they often come with a stigma “Oh, you sent your kid to that Yeshiva”.
@Avram-in-MD I don’t know by what mechanism individual ideas are being squelched. I can only speak for the results: that there is very little diversity in terms of what Mesivtas offer.