You of course missed the point of the reply. All the players had not already left before Ben's arrival.Yours is a narrative of fantasy. It's what you want to have happened or been the reason.
Ben is on audio/video saying he didn't try to talk anybody into staying....he only wanted guys who wanted to be here. But he didn't try to recruit them...he left it up to them.
He had a five year contract...he wanted to start over. He's also said his plan could take 4 or 5 years to build it.
The only thing open to fantasy is that the incumbent players were expecting a different coach to be hired. When that didn't happen they left. Maybe they weren't wanted because he wanted to start over. Maybe they didn't feel recruited or wanted so they left. He had the opportunity to recruit them is my only point.