It's easy to blame things on "professional administrators", but Caltech, like many research universities, is led by accomplished academics who have spent their time in the trenches:
Then perhaps the problem is exactly the opposite: academia should be led by professional administrators who specialize in higher education? The same way an accomplished & esteemed software engineer may not make a brilliant CEO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Felix_Rosenbaum
https://www.gps.caltech.edu/content/edward-m-stolper
(though I doubt if they were very involved in the decision of when to start looking for a new glassblower)